BRITISH SOLDIERS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 26 May 1915, Page 2

BRITISH SOLDIERS.

THE CONFIDENCE OF STRENGTH

• It must not be supposed that the British force now -in the field is inherently weak 7'on account of the large proportion of imperfectly trained men m their ranks. The best answer to this -is. that, young or not 1, they were able hot merely to hold the enemy at bay, but to inflict a crushing and stubbornly contested defeat on him. These young men, as well as the older: soldiers, -have acquired the confidence which. only, comes from measuring strength with the enemy, andto-daj the_ sap is rising in the trees as well as in the army itself. I encountered during the great battle a group from a famous Irish regiment. They had just come out of the trenches, and hae! had their rehabilitating wash and brush-up, and they looked particularly healthy and well set-up. - They almost regretted the arrival of their Peliei from ihe trenches. What they most wanted at the moment was to be taking theii> part in the great push, because they felt, as practically tiie whole-Army feels to-day, that they "have the "Germans in their pocket." This confidence permeates the whole Army, and ro is bound to be communicated to Kitchener's armies as scon as these fine bodies of well-trained men come into the field.

You will hear much about the songs the soldier sings, and may r-^ .-ray with the idea that he is an hilarious person. Which he certainly is noc. The British Tommy is an eminently, normal person, never much elated and never much dejected. They have their jokes, of course, and they have their songs; but-they are a perfectly serious race of men^ going, about their work as if they were, interested in making a good job and rarely giving \yay to the horseplay for which they are numberless opportunities. They are living in France as nearly as possible the li_e they are used to live in England. They have their chipped potatoes; •they ; have .-cheir Sunday: church services ■ (gehferally -under cover of ; some sort), and they have their regular football matches, perhaps much more regular during the siege war than they have been used to at home. Wherever half a dozen men are gathered together you may be sure they have a football to kick round. Even in the billets closest to the front they generally manage to have regular matches, and they are rarely at a loss for a ball, thanks to the generosity of innumerable guilds in the Old Country to provide them with comforts. While watching the bombardment of the enemy's trenches in preparation for an attack I could not help being struck every few minutes by the incongruity of the referee's whistle controlling an afternoon game of football close at hand. In another direction shells were actually bursting on the hillside where another company were rooting the leather about with the greatest* vim and unconcern.

UNEMOTIONAL TOMMY

Another thing about the British Tommy is his complete incapacity for emotion, whether of patriotism or of hatred. Perhaps the German soldier does not participate in the present-day cult of hating the English. Certainly his opponent on the other side of the lire-zone is quite incapable of hating the German. I never met either offlce^ or man who denounced his Teutonic enemies. They never discuss his atrocities, and as for Deutsche Michel himself, they are very much inclined to regard him highly* as the fine fighter he has proved himself to be. Yet there is something absolutely antagonistic in the upbringing of the British soldier and of the German. Nothing on earth could make a British Tommy sing the National Anthem spontaneously. The Germans, as we know, at the most critical moments of his life-sings his "Wacht am Rhein" and "Deutschland über Alles" as if he meant it all. One pf the young Rhinelanders whom I saw in the train of prisoners going down to the coast was not too dejected and thoroughly sick of it .all to reject with indignation the suggestion that he must be glad to be out of it. "No," he declared with warmth and evident sincerity, "I would rather be righting for the Fatherland."

As against this I have never met a single British soldier who did not admit that if he had the choice he would not go through his experiences again. Yet there is no lack of energy°and thoroughness in the way the fights. It is entirely a 'matter of. national psychology, with a certain backing of national training. The Briton who speaks slightingly of England as "Old Blitey" (though the name is supposed to be Indian and does not necessarily mean what it sounds like) is not a whit less patriotic than his more demonstrative foe.

# The whole impression of the British m the field is of an army of thoroughly good tradesmen keen on their job. The French, with their brilliant uniforms, their cuirasses, and their casques have a martial appearance. Ihe Indian cavalry, with their khaki uniform and turbans, their swarthylmmutable faces, their nodding lancepennons, are a strikingly warlike signt, inspiring instant admiration, ihe British Tommy is neither. He is just a quiet, well-behaved, splendidly equipped and thoroughly efficient artisan go:ng about his job without noise or display. Yet he inspires connuence from the mere Quietness of his demeanour and his evident efficiency —London correspondent of the Christchurch Press.