Evening star., 1942-06-24
By JAMES ALDRIDGE,
War Correspondent of The Star and No
American Newspaper Alliance.

j
American Newspaper Alliance.
CAIRO, June "a by Wireless) -
Axis occupation of Tobruk does not
mean a thing. The fact that the
British 9th Army lost the battle for
Tobruk means everything. 1t means
more than the loss of Greece or
Crete. 1t means more because 1t
shouts to high heaven that nothing
has been learned.
No one can dismiss this defeat
with those lovely phrases. no equip
ment" or lack Of imagination and
initiative" 1t goes deeper than that.
This battle for Tobruk was lost on
principles.
The 9th Army had enough equip
ment to beat the Germans. Its
general strategy and tactics were
good. Specifically, what it lacked
was speed, anger. virility and tough
ness. The British troops lacked
these qualities because the whole
basis Of their training. their rea-
sons for fighting. their actual fight
ing. are all obscure.
The German Afrika Korps de-
feated the 9th Army because it has
speed; anger. virility and toughness.
AS soldiers tin the traditional sense)
the Germans are punk, absolutely
punk. Field Marshal Erwin Rom
mel, its commander in chief. is not
a good soldier. He knows less
about the fine points of traditional
soldering than any junior British
general, but Rommel and his gang
are angry men. They are tough to
the point of stupidity. They are
virile and fast, they are thugs with
little or no imagination. They are
practical men, taken from a most
practical and hard life to fight
practically.
NaziS Professional Killers.
The German commanders are SCI
entists who are continually expert
menting with and improving the
hard mathematical formula of kill
ing. They are not trained much In
the traditional methods Of great
captains. They are trained as
mathematicians, engineers and
chemists facing complicated prob
lens. There is no art in it. There is
no imagination. War is pure physics
to them
The German soldier is trained
with the psychology Of the dare
devil track-rider. He is a profess
sional killer with no distractions.
He believes he is the toughest man
on earth. Actually, he cracks very
easily and is not so tough and can
be beaten soundly and quickly by a
foe using the same ruthless, speedy
methods he uses. His basic philos-
ophy of Fascism is so false that he
folds under the strain. His training
carries him along.
The combination Of sound phi
losophy and German training would
be unbeatable. The British could
have such combination but it will
mean drastic changes in principles.
1t is a political more than, mill
tary problem. But it will have to
change the army from top to bottom.
The British commanders today are
trained as traditional soldiers. War
to them Is an art. But modern war
is a science. When they 60 into the
field it is like a commercial artist
getting into the ring with boxer.
The British still 60 into the war
with the Petain theory. This says
that battles should be fought with as
little death as possible. This is a
hangover from the Western front
slaughter of World War I. 1t doesn't
stand up so we'll against the Ger
man. who sees his objective first but
never considers the losses.
Vague Dislike for Hitler.
Death is what a soldier expects,
but he doesn't like to die unless
you keep telling him sensibly what
he is going to die for. The British
soldier is vaguely conscious of a dis
like for Hitler and his gang and
is completely determined to win the
war, but these feelings are not crys-
tallized. Propaganda to the forces
in the western desert is bad and
confusing and is always playing
down to the soldiers.
The principal means of getting
news and the feeling OF home is from
the British Broadcasting Co. I
have never heard a soldier praise
the BIC. The average BIC pro-
gram for the desert might sound
fine in London, but it is an insult
to the intelligence Of the men who
are looking death in the face out
in the worst country on earth.
The British soldier is better paid,
better fed and gets more leave than
the German soldier, but he doesn't