WERE NOT FAILURES

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 113, 6 February 1935, Page 10

WERE NOT FAILURES

General on Gallipoli and Passchendaele dead man vilified rrmoral Sir Alexander Godley, formerly Commander-In-Chief of New Zealand’s Defence Forces, was the "nest of honour at the weekly lune ieon of the Wellington Rotary Club 'introducing the guest,'Mr. C. H• Weston K.C., said that many in New Zealand were glad to we come then old commander-in-elnet atte Ins a sence of twenty years, as they could now regard the work lie had done m f-lm liofit of a more accurate peislecfK in that light he might be regarded as one of the builders ot the ""General Godley said he had enjoyed tlie privilege of speaking at severa Rotarv gatherings during the last two vearV notably at Salisbury and Livingstone, in Northern Rhodesia, and in Australia. None, howexer, had given him so much pleasure as the ’afest one. Just Palliatives. when recently in South Africa lie had the good fortune to meet General Smuts and what he said about the international situation was rather interesting. Speaking of the dictatorships which had been established in Europe—Mussolini in Italy, Primo di Rivera in Spain, Hitler in Germany, Kemal Pasha in Turkey—General Smuts had said all these were only makeshifts, palliatives, and would not last They were palliatives to prevent- a country and people relapsing into a state of chaos. Talking about soldiering, General Godley said he would like to make a “military suggestion” about two great campaigns in which New Zealanders were engaged, and which in the bi oddest and most civilian sense were regarded as'failures. "I suggest to you another aspect ot the situation,” said General Godley. “We fought tlie whole of the Turkish Army at Gallipoli. I say the whole army, with the exception of some small detachments. For nine months we kept them at Gallipoli. What would they have been doing if they were not so employed? They might probably have attacked Egypt, and no end of mischief might have been done.” Lloyd George’s Attack. General Godley also referred to the attack which Mr. Lloyd George had made on Field-Marshal Lord Haig ' over Passchendaele. This action simply had had to be fought by the British, otherwise there ■ was nothing to prevent the Germans marching on Paris. The United States Army bad not arrived. and the weakness of the French was such that the enemy could have breached tlie line. The action was to have been fought on July 5, 1917. lint the French were not ready. When, months later, they did attack, the rains broke—but that was no fault of the Field-Marshal’s. The New Zealanders had made a brilliant attack, and captured a large number of prisoners and guns. Then came the break in the weather. It was Marshal Petain who begged Lord Haig to advance, otherwise the Boschj would be able to, mass his reserves on' the very weak French front and break through, “We generals cannot talk and write —it is not our business,” said General Godley, “but .to vilify a dead man when lie cannot defend himself — well, I leave it to you to judge.”