AN EX-OFFICER

Hokitika Guardian, 22 September 1937, Page 6

AN EX-OFFICER

LIKELY TO VISIT AUSTRALIA VALENCIA, September 19. Ludwig Bonn, Prussian ex-officer, cousin of the ex-Kaiser, and escapee from a Nazi concentration camp, hopes to visit Australia' .during furlough from his command of a loyalist brigade in Spain. For nine months he has !ought in defence of Madrid. He has read Ludendorfi’s tribute to the Australian troops and will be most interested, he says, to meet Australians “in large quantities ” . ■ ' ■

.Lanky, crisp .of speech, precise end almost schoolmasterly in his manner—he led one important attack flourishing a pencil and notebook—Renn has achieved the somewhat notable distinction, for a Prussian,, of being popular with Spaniards.. “At the beginning of the war,” he said in an interview, “Spanish officers led both sides.- Anything so nad you couldn’t imagine. Our side chose officers only for their courage, and nothing else. Now, the Spauish people’s Army is really efficient.' It has better discipline, for example, than have the French volunteers. The French are splendid in attack, but not -o steady and disciplined in defence. “A feature cf the international loyalist volunteers is their superb dash. The Italian Garibaldi Battalion is absolutely astonishing. “There are many Britons in the .Tiiaolmann Battalion under me. Tt is seldom anything is heard -frdm them, because they are always doing their job satisfactorily in responsible positions without noise”