VICTORY OR DEATH

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 111, 14 May 1942, Page 5

VICTORY OR DEATH

GEN. BLAMEY’S MESSAGE TO TROOPS ON VERGE OE MOVEMENT (Recd. 12.50 a.m.) Melbourne, May 13. “Our contest is to the death. Xliere can be no glossing over its grimness or finality,” said General Blarney, Commander of the Land Forces in Australia, broadcasting to troops throughout Australia to-night. “It is a personal contest for every soldier in which his strength of body and fitness of mind will be tested to the limit. We are training to lit every ollicer and man to overwhelm, destroy and slay the aggressor who would wrest from us our liberty, land, homes and womenfolk. There is no true Australian man who is not prepared to die to prevent this. The whole object of our training is to build up such a spirit that we will force our way to victory—or death.” After detailing the objects of various forms of training, General Blarney said: “The Australian and American peoples stand as the vanguard of civilisation. In each of our countries the freedom of the individual has reached the highest development. With that freedom gone and all our acts and ways subjected to barbarian control, life has no value. We have the strength to defeat this enemy. We must and we will.” To-day's Allied Headquarters communique states: In the north-cast sector weather conditions limited air activity throughout the area. There was routine activity only in other areas.