SOLDIERS WHO THINK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17533, 27 January 1919, Page 9

SOLDIERS WHO THINK

SEfCCESS OF ATJSTRAIJANS. '" ViKW 01? GENERAL, MONASH. At the monthly luncheon of tho Australian and New Zealand Lunch Club, on Wednesday, October 23, Mr Balfour and Lieutenant-general Sir John Monash, Commander ot tho Australian Forces in tho field, were tho honoured guests of tho club. Sir Jame3 Mills -was in tho chair, and there was a large and representative Australasian gathering. Aa the cables have already announced, Mr Balfour used the occasion for the first definite pronouncemeat that the policy of the British. .Government was a lefusal to return to Germany any of her colonics lost in the war. General Monash's speech rivalled in interest even that of the distinguished Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. He had a most enthusiastic reception, and said that what had struck him on coming to London for a few days' leave, and in talking to many paople, was that there was throughout the community a sense of bewilderment at the sudden change in our fortune. There seemed to be a feeling that this had happened unexpectedly and almost catastrophically. Ho was surprised at that feeling here. They never entertained it at the front There they had seen the change coming for weeks and months, and they had had the utmost confidence that it was going to come. It had been a. long road' to travel, and a steep hill to climb, but they had been climbing it steadily for four years, and particularly rapidly daring last few months. We had been inclined, he thought, to overlook the warning words of Lord Kitchener, at the outset, that this was to be a war of attrition, and that the only way in* which it would be won was by overmastering the enemy and wearing down his strength by our own collective resources. So we had kept plodding along on the weary journey. Our progress—slow, perhaps, if measured by prisoners captured.or territory gained— had notwithstanding been steady—and relentless.—(Cheers.) Thoy had felt confident, and he was surprised that the public had not felt confident, that as each day passed . they were getting nearer to the crisis, and that the enemy would begin to show sia-ng of collapse. ' ° ON CREST OF THE HELL.

And now, indeed, they had 'reached tho crest of the hill, and. saw the distant landscape m front—<Cheerß.).' They were contaroing the joumey with the same confidence that the goal -was nearer and nearer. They did not know how much further they had to go. Their task was to go on hammering the enemy with all their power and-all their weight, and at tho front they had the completest confidence that they would hammer successfully. On the enemy's retirement it was said that he would take up the line of the Meuse. Well when we got to.it we should break it—(Cheers.) Then it was said that the enemy would take up the Ene of the Rhine. We were £°u»f to break that too.—(Renewed cheers.) What' was so_pften overlooked in all this struggle was the factor of morale. We found a great many amateur strategists dealing with tho situations, and read many figures about men and guns. These did not count unless' you had morale behind. The morale was to the physical and mate-' rial as ten is to one. The reaj strength on our side was {he knowledge that we had got the enemy beaten. Their moral© was going down; oars was going* up, STOPPED- BEFORE AMIENS. General Monash prooeeded to givo a few rapid sketches of the recent work of Australians in the front, prefacing his remarks by saying that it was not the desire of any member of the Australian corps to exaggerate their doings. They were respongbte for a tiny little bit of the whole, and naturally it loomed large in their horizon. But the story of the Australian part' was he thought, at least a very fine one. Even before lie German offensive, opened the Australians knew that sooner or later they would be in it It happened that two or three of our divisions were resting when the etorm broke. When Amiens was threatened, seven miles east of that city, the Australians came up against the German army When it met three Australian divisions it stopped dead.—(Cheers.) And from the yery. first day in the weary time that followed, without waiting to see where the nest break was coming, the Australians undertook and maintained a vigorous offensive, and sought to make the enemy's position as disagreeable as it could possibly be made.

\ Not a week passed but they embarked on an attack, and an important attack. On -• a front of 10 miles our troops gave the enemy no rest, and he had to give up all thought of taking Amiens. This was followed on April 24 and 25—ennrrersary of Anzac Day—by the capture by the Austrahans of Vaiera-Bretonneux, with a thousand prisoners, and that, in his humble opinion, was the very crisis of the war. (Cheers.) That compelled lie enemy to take breathing time, and gave just the time required for the British, and French forces to bring up their resources, perfect their defence, and ultimately to take the offensive. On July 4, Hamel was'taken by 1000 Australians, and the occasion was signalised by the splendid co-operation with them of American troops. General Headquarters gave the Australians honour for their resource, science, and achievement. All this was ; comparatively on a small scale, but' it paved the way for the great movements. The Australian success made possible the swing-over from the defensive to the offensive. The general proceeded to tell the story of the. movement in early August, when, by what he called -a. beautiful piece of camouflage, a Canadian corps came in behind one of our divisions. The movement, he said, was a most striking success. It was a blow from which the enemy had not recovered to this day. Since the battle. ■of August 8, the Australian Corps has had ' a succession of uninterrupted successes. The enoniy had to withdraw from the Somme and they said he was going to stand on the Somme for the winter. Well, he did not stay there very long.—(Cheers.) The Australians could not get- at him by a frontal attack, but one njoniing before the enemy knew anything about it we had captured Mont 8t Quentm. The consequence was that the enemy had to withdraw from the line of the Somme. Then it was said that he would stand on the Hindenburg line. It was a formidable line; to attack it was a very tough proposition; but it had been done, aad the Australians, with two American divisions, went through and stood beyond the Hindenburg Une. He had given tie figures to the Prime Minister, who had already used them,- but he might repeat that the Australians had captured 29,000 prisoners, 650 guns, 250 , square milea of territory, in which" 120 towns and villages hod been liberated If asked to account for the striking characteristics of the Australian. 6oldier, he would say that ,very much was owing to the system of education in Australia. That system turned out a man who could think.—-(Cheers.) That was -what our Australian soldier did. He, thought about his work, and then carried it out with intelligence and success.. He could- not speak too highly of the regi-n-ental officers, most of whom had risen from : the ranks. To. them he attributed very much of the success gained. He wished also to bear testimony to the high excellence of the staff work. In conclusion the General said: **I have often hoard remarks made about Australian iliscipHne. There is an idea in some quarters that the Australian soldier although a fine fighter is not disciplined That is a ridiculous fiction. I look upon the Australian soldier as fie most disciplined of any. He is used to team work and to obeying bis leader, and he is a man that- you can thoroughly rely upon. J. here js nothing more perfect and nothing more satisfactory than the reliance you canput on an Australian soldier m battle." Ibo General resumed bis seat amid , long-sustained cheering.: