MEMORIES OF A SOLDIER

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 34, 8 August 1925, Page 17

MEMORIES OF A SOLDIER

"Sjldiers and Others I Have Known.' By " Sir John Adye, K.C.M.G., C.B. London: Herbert Jenkins.

General Sir. John Adye was one of "Wblseley's men," and, indeed, lie dedicates this interesting and well-written coiluetioa of memories of forty-three yens' service in the British Army to "The finest soldier I have known." His war experiences include service in the Afghan War of 1879, Egyptian Campiiiiru, 1882, Soudan Campaign, 1884----lUao, South African War, 1900, Salonika, Egypt, Sinai, and Palestine in the Great vVar. He holds that there have been but two great War Ministers in England during living memory, namely, Unii Cardwell and Lord Haldane, and both were staunch Liberals, yet without prior experience of the War Office ami without military training. General A-lye writes in the easy manner of a smoke-room or deck-chair causerie. Ho lure much to tell that recalls events noW quite historical, but he speaks—or writes —so well that he invests them with the interest attaching to contemporary happenings. The Boer War of IUBI. he holds, "brought no honour or glory, to anyone, so I was well out of it." Another little interesting fact is that at one time France and Turkey were to have combined with England in putting down the rebellion raised by Arnbi Pasha, and a joint expedition w:is almost an accomplished fact. Had it materialised, General Adyc thinks, " fhe whole subsequent history of Europe would have been differently written."

One of his most, interesting stories for New Zealanders is where ha describes tlm wreck of a sailing ship on Eastern Bt'iich, Gibraltar. A shore party put out to tho rescue, and safely got off all on' board the ship save one. A boat from one of the Channel Squadron put off on the same errand at tho 3ame time, and capsized near the wreck. The bluejackets all swam nshore, and the boat drifted in keel uppermost with the naval li<-dtenant clinging to it. The bluejackets, though exhausted, made to jji.'ngo back into the* sea io bring 'iv th'iii 1 officer, but, utterly exhausted and inuring his end, he was dragged off tho bu:,t. as -she touched. That officer became Lord . Jellicoc. He was :also on b..-. ■■'] the Victoria when she sank in evasion with the Campcrdown. IKb fatal • British mistake of under- 1 r,:i ;g the strength of opponents was in ill., .13 General Adye points out, in th • rtoiith Atriwrn' War. He. is ■ rather b m-'o ill this matter, when dealing with e.v'oiiial contingents for this w&r'. The c "if.ifigciits were often ovot'-officered, and '"i it j.quite small corps had seven, .cbapliiih attached[to it."' Political considc :l ions', ■ rather than ability, he beli ■i.i, governed tbo number and selecli..»i til ofTurrs. ' Sir William Butler's w.. >'iing th;it''this South African War «..' d call for 100,000 meir proved corit. .'.. but it fell oil deaf official ears at tit outset with disastrous results to the I'.i.ish Army and. British prestige., • ■As for Lord Kitchener, "he was the l-'^lit niiiii in the right place, both in I nth Africa in IGOi-1902 and at the .war Office in 1914-1916," is General Ai; c's conviction. ' . ' ' here iire- little flashes of humor in f :nral Adye's book, ' which clamour ! quotation, but space is sufficient for iji't two of them.' When in Mauritius: in* -.riys he saw ;iu ode written by a ferv r-l patriot on the death of Queen Vic(d "a. One vci-?e ?'an :— \j.:.l to dust; ashes to ashes!; iii l«j hor j;ravc the good Queen slowly (lusiics.. ' Another. gem, <-ilso from Mauritius. Li. Holiness the Pope, who is greatly vi •isiatecl in Mauritius, was then seriij ly ill, suffering from pneumonia. The 1., nl .French journal remarked, "A son ;: ,-:■ cela ne pardonne pag," and the Eng1, 'i journal translated the phrase, "At li..4»age this is quite unpardonable." there ia a significant paragraph in th's interesting book that should be printed. The writer was fit Nivelle, wh re he overtook the rearguard 'of.'the' re! renting Germany army, and he was *'■ nek with the youth, strength, and \ ;our of the men. They were well fed ai'iJ well clothed. • ■ . However great their losses may have been in tbe closing days of the war, whatever hardships and dangerg they may have undergone, the German army that I saw retreating through that fair Belgian countryside was not" a thoroughly cowed and beaten force, but still retained its military spirit and national character. No soldier could be mistaken upon that point. The book it mads additionally attractive by reproductions of water colour d a wings by the author and half-tone photographs of people and plicep.