THE DOMINION TROOPS.

Feilding Star, Volume XV, Issue 3829, 4 July 1919, Page 3

THE DOMINION TROOPS.

SECOND TO NONE IN THE WOHLD. STRIKING ENGLISH TRIBUTE. A striking tribute to troops of all tho Overseas Dominions is paid by thJe miltiary correspondent of the London Times: — The troops of tlie British Dominions overseas, he says, whether drawn from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, or South Africa, have by their bravery, dash, endurance, and steadiness, acquired a military reputation second to none in tho world. In many theatres of war and on countless fields they have reaped a harvest of (dory, and they have obtained the unqualified admiration ol their friends and tho wholesome vcbi>ect of their enemies. No armies, in nny war in any time, have so rnpidly gained, and so completely deserved, a grand fighting reputation. TTipv have aeomplished some of tho finest feats of the war, and the Ihistorv of their share in this greatest of campaigns will not only provr, o\ umlving interest to ik all, but will bo linndod down in the Dominions th'rmsolves from generation to generation as a glorious example of great work finely clone. The home administrations of Mip Dmoinions have all well supported fbo troons in the field, and in si>ite 'if the distances whirl) have separated tlif> principle tlieatre of war from the overseas 'self-governing Dominions, fho writer constantly found their troons relatively tlin strongest units iii the British Armies, a"d always in excellent condition. Physically. th' n y could only bo described as magnificent. Each Dominion force had its own characteristics. One stood "Vpr more ground th«ti any other troops in Franco. Another was liffie. active, and nuick as a cat. A third was extraordinarily slim, while one and all showed n. desire to close with the enemy and a. contempt for death which is "ever the hall-mark of the most valiant troops. The Dominion troops seemed to be, and were, the most open-air soldiers in the field. To this fact we must ascribe their light and easy stride, their splendid manliness, and their remarkable vitality and endurance. Not easily in all cases accomfodating themselves at first to tlie trammels of discipline, they found, when opposed to the best German troops, that unless martial valour was tempered by close co-operation and strict obedience of orders the bestmeant efforts might tail. It is to their infinite honour that they leanit battle-disciplino in this hard school without losing a shred of their natural qualities, and in point of military merit wero constantly improving their methods and enhancing their fame till tho last days of the war. .They gave us great leaders like Monash, Currie, and Chauvcl. They produced many brilliant subordinates, commanders, and regimental officers, while in other ranks it can truly be said that in many of their.characteristics they were unsurpassed and unsurpassable. Infantry of the first quality, they were also dashing horsemen, who performed great deeds in a country which favoured mounted troops, and from their own. resources they created excellent auxiliary arms and services without which no army can be complete. The Dominion troops possessed the quality of combativeness in a supreme degree. Worthily rivalling each other, and each chivalrously striving to do the best, they leave us in the end incapable of deciding which of them did best when all did so well. Great are their achievements, and great the renown which those brave men, living and dead, have won on tho bloodstained fields of the war. They have shown a strength in the British 10mpiro which our enemies never suspected, and never knew. Small blame to them for that, for we scarcely knew it ourselves. But when the call comes again and the word goes round the Empire, thai it is in danger, we shall know, and our enemies will. know, too, that, from the British Dominions beyond the seas there will come stout hearts and strong arms to carry the (lag once more to victory, and to repeat those glorious deeds which have immortalised the name of the famou? Dominion troops.