Facing Fearful Odds.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3853, 3 December 1917, Page 4

Facing Fearful Odds.

It is a fatal mistake for a commander to despise the army in front of him, even though its nunv '"""■ may le nr;ch less than his ovv-.. n^ *,i lc German gereral before L:v £c found to his cost, and as Edward IX. learned at Ihmnockburn. From classical times to the present day, \ ictory has by no means always gone to the big battalions. Grarribr.l i and his two thousand or so red shirts made the kingdom of Italy possible, while the British Army has nothing ■ finer to show than the defcn~e of Korke's Drift, when eighty men of the 24th, with a few men of other regiments, defeated some 4,000 Zulus, and saved Natal.

One of the hardest fought buttles of the Franco-Prussian War was Worth, where the French were outnumbered by nearly three to one, but made such a gallant resistance that their losses in killed and wounded were fewer than the Germams.

At Agincourt the English were outnumbered by five to one, while at Crecy they put to flight a force more than twice as strong.