FINEST FIGHTERS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 62, Issue 305, 7 October 1942, Page 4

FINEST FIGHTERS

BRITAIN’S SOLDIERS PRAISED. GENERAL ALEXANDER’S TRIBUTE MORALE AFTER. REVERSES. 1.. (N.Z. Press Association —Copyright). (Rec; 12.30 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 6. “ Britain’s soldiers ' have qualities which make them the finest fighters in the world,” said General B. L. Alexander (Commander-in-Chief in the Middle East) in. an interview with a correspondent of *the “Daily Mirror”. “They are not soldiers hut warriors. They have no fierce lust for blood or killing, yet they go into battle with cool determination with the intention of wiping cut the Nazi savagery. “I have seen British soldiers unhappy, bewildered and,fed-up, but never iea‘> ful. Even when they have endured demoralising withdrawals they have responded to leadership and re-formed ready to withstand the next ordeal. The Bth Army is a perfect example of that. It was pushed back hundreds of miles after a series of defeats. Jlist when the world might! have been expected to collapse around its ears it stopped dead, re-formed, and returned to face the enemy. Its morale again rocketed.

“I wonder how many armies would have kept their morale after the frightful military reverses we have had in this war. I think the explanation is the British soldier’s pride of race. The time is past when we had to fight a first-class enemy with inadequate equipment arid inadequate training. From now on we have all the equipment we require.”