19 DECEMBER 1941, Page 12

GERMAN AND BRITISH SOLDIERS

Sta,—Mr. D. Neville Jones in his letter in your issue of December 12th compares the training of German troops as seen by the marine who escaped from Calais with the " endless drilling, bayonet-practice and button-polishing of our own troops," and concludes that our methods are out-of-date, particularly in the matter of drill.

Anyone who has seen a pre-war Nazi demonstration at Nuremberg or elsewhere in Germany will have seen such mass parades as he never saw before. Hitler Youth, land army men and women, brown shirts, and regular troops at these parades goose-stepped past the saluting-point 3o abreast in perfect alignment for hours on end. Never has any nation been so thoroughly drilled as the German people. The men in their third year of war, who had been drilled as recruits, the men whom the marine saw, don't need more drill, but the recruits in theh first year of service whom Mr. Neville Jones sees drilling at home have Lot reached the same stage of training. As to equipment, if you starve your fighting services in peace you must not expect them tc be armed perfectly when war comes.—