A FINE ARMY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 237, 7 October 1942, Page 3

A FINE ARMY

DESERT RECOVERY

"Now We Have The Equipment" Says Alexander Rec. 2 p.m. LONDON, Oct. 6. Britain's soldiers have qualities which make them the finest fighters in the world, said General Sir Harold Alexander, Commander-in-Chictf in the Middle East, in an interview with the Daily Mirror correspondent in Cairo. "They are not soldiers, but warriors," said the general. "They have no fierce lust for blood or killing, yet they go into battlfe with the cool and determined intention of wiping out Nazi savagery. I have seen British soldiers unhappy, bewildered and fed up, but never fearful. Even when they have endured demoralising withdrawals they have responded to leadership and reformed 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. Just when the world might have been expected to collapse around its ears it stopped dead, reformed and returned to face the enemy, and 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 soldiers' pride of race.

"The time is past when we had to fight a first-class enemy with inadequate equipment and inadequate training. From now on we have all the equipment we require."