The Waikato Times THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 1940 “LACKING MANLY QUALITIES”

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21192, 15 August 1940, Page 6

The Waikato Times THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 1940 “LACKING MANLY QUALITIES”

The British Empire is indebted to Virginio Gayda, Italian Press spokesman, for an explanation of the British retreats in Northern Africa. “The Italians in Africa,” says Gayda, “are facing Australian, New Zealand, South African, British and Indian troops who lack war spirit and have inferior command, fighting will and organisation, when facing the manly and warlike qualities of the Italians. This explains the British retreats.” It is a custom in wartime to be uncomplimentary about the “manly” qualities of the enemy. Britons have been equally emphatic about the warlike qualities of the Italians, and they will enjoy Gayda’s rejoinder very heartily. Occasionally these flashes of unconscious but brilliant humour come from the enemy. They are probably intended in all seriousness, and it perhaps astonishes the enemy propagandists to know that they are providing uproarious entertainment. Not so long ago Goebbels provided New Zealand and Australia with weeks of merriment by his famous reference to the “poor country lads.” Even though the Anzacs are Inclined to pride themselves on their initiative and fighting ability they are not in the least degree discouraged, but rather the reverse, by enemy criticism that brings them to earth so resoundingly. In the camps, in the front lines and in the still unrecruited armies of the Empire this Italian propaganda will be equal in value to a month s training. It may be that the strange developments of the present war have caused the enemies of Britain to accept as a fact the contention that the Empire is decadent, that it has no fighting spirit and that its retreats everywhere are due alone to general incompetence. By contrast Germany, and to some extent Italy, have made prodigious gains of territory with lightning speed. Are these facts not proof in German and Italian eyes that British manhood is “lacking in war spirit and weak in command and organisation when facing the manly and warlike Italians” ? Gayda may be perfectly sincere in his criticism. To him the odds must appear to be very greatly in favour of the Axis Powers. But rightly or wrongly, Britons believe that he has grossly misjudged the whole situation and that it is yet too soon for Italy to dismiss the opposition as weak and unmanly. It may not be generally realised how valuable a sense of humour is to the British cause. That, with stubbornness in the face of odds, and the long view, stands the Empire in good stead in a time of extreme trial. Had the British people been as weak as Gayda suggests, the Empire would surely have collapsed long ago. Britons approach the war in a spirit different from that displayed by the Italians and their allies. Britons are looking to the future rather than to the present. That attitude may cause immediate suffering and apparent disadvantage, but it is the end that matters most. Italians may rant and rave, Germans may Heil Hitler and slay and bum and torture, but with what foundations and what background are they fighting ? Have criminals and braggarts ever for long held sway over humanity ? They may gain temporary ascendancy, but the end will be that end in which the British Empire has a deep-seated confidence.