NEW ZEALANDERS IN FRANCE

Otago Witness, Issue 3249, 21 June 1916, Page 30

NEW ZEALANDERS IN FRANCE

GENERAL BIRDWOOD'S INSPIRING MESSAGE. A FRENCH APPRECIATION. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, April 21. Long- before this mail readies New Zealand, cabio information should have told of the safe arrival of the Nov/ Zealand Expeditionary Force in France. The advance party landed early this month at Marseilles, and tile whole force should be disembarked by this date While on the way from Egypt to France, General Sir \\ iiliam Bu'tiwoou addressed the men on board ship and issued the ioilbwing message to all the men uuciui' his command : " Now that we are proceeding to France, 1 am republishing Lord lvitcuener s message to tiie iroops 01 the British Expeditionary Force, wideh was originally issued to the Australian and New Zealand forces before their departure Hum their homes in ijotober, 19r4. i teel that it is haruiy necessary for me to emphasise to all ranka how sincerely I trust that they will bear m mind all that Lord Kifcch ner says, and do their utmost to live up to the idea, which he has placed before you. "Since the Australian and New Zealand forces left their respective countries, you have made for yourselves a national reputation as good fighters, which has earned for you the esteem ot your comrades, alongside of whom we will shortly Lie lighting. The training that you have had will, i hope, enable you to utilise your fine fighting qualities to advantage. But in addition to these two qualifications, there is still a third which is essential to success—DISCIPLINE i and it is the greatest of the three, for without discipline the best lighting troops in the world will fail at the last to achieve success.

"You will undoubtedly bo faced with temptations i:i France, for we shall probably have to pass through and be billeted in densely populated French villages. Drink will. J. ;.m afriid, be obtainable, wniJe "v d lages will mostly be full of women and children, whose fathers, husbands, and brothers are fighting- for their country in tiio trenches against our common enemy. That you will, respect the women 1 have hot the slightest doubt, because L well knowhow absolutely repugnant the idea of any offence against a defenceless woman is to every Australian and New Zealander. b is against drink, however, than I particularly wish to warn you, and to implore you to take hold of yourselves and in the case of every man to absolutely make up his mind

and determine for himself that lie will not give way to it, and that he will remember that the honour of either Australia or New Zealand is in his personal keeping. In saying this you all know that I am only referring to a very small proportion of your numbers. The great majority of you want no such warning, for i know you will already have made up your minds on the subject, and all such I earnestly bog to do what is in their power to look alter their comrades who may not have the same strength of mind as they have.

"Remember that a few black sheep can givoabad name to a whole flock, so let there bo none such among us, and let us make up our minds that the Australian and New Zealand Forces are going to prove themselves second to none in the way of cliscipline, as they havo already done where sheer hard fighting was concerned.

"See to this, boys. You know you arc capable of it, if you will only determine that it shall be so, and if you will do this you will be able to return to Australia and New Zealand after peace and vietory with an unsullied reputation, which will go down for all time in your home " OUR NEW LINE IN ARTOIS.

France--both the France in the trenches and the France behind the lines —fully appreciates the assistance by the British Army during the battle of Verdun. The Bulletin des Armees, the official weekly newspaper which is circulated throughout the French front, contains a cordial article on ''British friendship." "The day has gone by when the enemy could pretend to mock at 'the contemptible little army of Marshal French,' '' it states. "Already in the Carnbresis. General French's soldiers had given the first proof of their valour. _ From Croey-on-Brb to Coulommiers they had taken their share in the vietory of the Marne, and since those glorious inarches, what a long way they have gone, and what progress they have made! The 60,0b0 men of August, 1914, are to-day 2,500,00-0. The Expeditionary Force lias become a formidable a)my. It has often been said that time is fighting for the. Allies, but none of them has lie favoured so greatly as the English. "Only a fortnight ago the Commander-in-chief of the French armies, replying to a letter from Sir Douglas Haig, used the following words: —"The French Army is well aware that, when recently an appeal was made to the coniaraderie of the British Army, it replied by offering unreservedly its immediate support.' At the very beginning of the battle of Verdun, when Germany was collecting her best forces, to hurl them once again against her principal adversary, France, the British High Command relieved by fresh troops one of the French armies in one of the most difficult rectors of the front—in Artois. In a few days, from Loos to the Somme, the Germans had the surprise of having fresh opponents to fight, to-day, in the trenches of Ablain. Paint Nazairo and Carency, at Souchez and Neuville Saint Vaast, in all the villages of Artois, wrested by French courage from the invaders, Highlanders, Australians. Canadians, and the men of England, Wales, and Ireland are on guard, preparing themselves for battles yet to come. Previously the British had undertaken the, difficult task of defending Vermeilles, carried last year by the French. To-day they hold the duvrages Blancs, the Labyrinth. Notre Dame do Loretto, and the slopes of the heights of Thelus and Vimy. where so much French blood was heroically ehed. Would it 1)0 possible to find a more eloquent proof of our union and friendship, which the Germans would give their souls to break?" GENERAL BIRDWOOD IN LONDON. After seeing his command landed in France, General Sir William Birdwood spent a short time at general headquarters, and then came on to England, arriving in London yesterday. Amongst ihoso on the platform" at Victoria to welcome him were Brigadier-general Sir Newton _ Moore (commanding the Australian Forces in England), and Mr Andrew Fisher (High Commissioner for. Australia).