BRITAIN AND THE WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21117, 26 February 1932, Page 12

BRITAIN AND THE WAR.

Sir, —As one who served for three and a-half years with the N.Z.E.F., I should like to reply to M. Forcioli, French Consul in Melbourne. In his remarkable attack on the British Army, he states we fought to save ourselves. Perhaps that is so, but surely we saved France too ? Tho French were no match for the Germans on their own. lie says once Calais and Boulogne had fallen England would have been invaded. Where was our Navy'! M. Forcioli says they fought almost alono at the Marne and at Verdun. At the Marne we had six regular divisions. At Verdun, which was a fortress in the French lines, the issue was mainly Franco-German, as the garrison was naturally French. The British had heavy batteries and aircraft there in considerable numbers. He soldiers' pay, this seems to sting the consul. He must remember the British Tommy got Is a day. though tho Anzacs got ss. He says the poilou had 110 luxuries such as jams, jellies, baths, cigarettes, etc. X should like to inform the consul that be has got a lot to learn about life in the British front lino. lie squeals about the French having no decent Red Cross, 110 nurses, etc. Whoso fault is that ? Surely a nation who looks after its fighting moil should be commended, not blamed. Re the terrible days in March, 1918, when tho Germans hurled 40 crack divisious in the heavy morning mist against General Sir Hubert Gough's five divisions, I saw the gallant remains of the Ninth Division, 9000 strong; tho other 20,000 were dead or wounded. Tho 19th Division fared 110 better, and tho other three were decimated. 1 can tell M. Forcioli that Franco has nothing to boat tho stand of those five divisions in all its annals. M. Forcioli says Frenchmen stopped the Germans tlion. lie is slightly in error, as every available Australian, Now Zoaland, Canadian and British regiment was rushed into tho break. M. Forcioli is quite wrong and unjust here. He says the debt to England was incurred to save the Allies. This is not so, when we consider the Germans owned the richest and best parts of France. Ro the mutiny in the French Army prior <0 Marshal Foch faking supreme command, they are credited by Mr. Winston Churchill with refusing to. advance and attack the enemy. I should like to ask M. Forcioli who started tho German retreat at Villiers Brotonneux in October, 19.18 ? It was the gallant Anzacs, and don't forgot it, M. Forcioli, © G. B. Wallis.