While I was with 8th batt headquarters I had a rather interesting conversation with a couple of Germans, one a battalion commander and one lieut. both young and well educated and very decent, -Saxons. They could talk English well but of course they wouldn’t tell us anything about what we wanted to know. There are other ways than questioning to make them give military information but they told me something that it may interest you to hear. A few days before Mr Hughes (William Hughes, Australia’s Prime Minister) had made a speech in England saying that Australia would on no account allow England to give Germany back her Pacific Colonies. This German told me that it was the universal opinion of the average man in the street that Germany would get back her colonies. Because, he said, everyone knew they could bluff England into anything. They had bluffed them into a route on the Somme & they were confident they could bluff the English into any peace terms they liked. They, he said, knew they couldn’t bluff France and were not sure of America but they thought France & America wouldnt worry about the pacific islands and they were sure that they would get them back. As soon as Mr Hughes made that speech, he said, everyone realised at once that they were up against Australia and he assured me they at once realised there was no hope of getting back the colonies.
No single solider would dare to say anything against Australia. They realised that at present Australia was pretty harmless because – in his actual words – she was under the heel of those money grabbing fools in London, but Germany would never dare to raise the anger of the Australian Government. He said they feared Mr Hughes going to the Peace Conference more than any thing the English armies could do. I asked them if they realised how small the population of Australia was. He said they had identified 15 Australian divisions and thought there was another one, that the Australian divisions were all up to strength and all volunteers. He thought that any one who volunteered to come to the war was mad but was absolutely sure there weren’t as many volunteers to be found in all Germans. He was firmly convinced that Australia had a bigger population than Germany. When I mentioned that the figures had been published he laughed and said that Germany had actually twice as many men of fighting age than his official figures showed and that all the German soldiers knew that Australia had done the same only more so. He said that all Australians wanted war, that the white Australia scheme was only to entice someone into a war to give them a rough handling. He said that Germany had been accused of preparing for war but Australia had done so far more thoroughly than even Germany did. I asked him if he knew the English called us dogs, colonials, son of convicts etc & almost refused to sit down to a meal in the same room when we went on leave. He said he did but he knew the German people had more fear of the Australian government than of the British government. He also said that it was only the Australians who could break the German lines on the Somme in 1916-17 & at Ypres in 1917 that all the English attempts were easily defeated. The Australians alone saved Paris and Calais in the spring. He said they were all certain always in the British attacked them they were all right, f they attacked the British the British would run away. He said he would rather spend a year in front of the British than a week in front of the Australians.
I make no comments on this at the present. I have had many conversations with prisoners and will give them to you as I get to them and will make some remarks after them all. These are the things the English are making a special effort to suppress, things that will never come out during the war but they are still there and known and by suppressing them the present Australian heads are sitting on a safety valve. Soon after the war there will be a great trouble on account of this.
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