A fit country for heroes...

Where does the saying "a land fit for heroes" come from?". Who first said "lions led by donkeys" of the 1st World War"?

"What is our task? To make Britain a fit country for heroes to live in." David Lloyd George (Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor) 1863-1945. Speech at Wolverhampton, Nov. 23, 1918, quoted in The Times, Nov. 25, 1918. (The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations" by Tony Augarde.)

Does anyone else remember the children's song, "Lloyd George knew my father; father knew Lloyd George..." To the tune of "Onward Christian Soldiers."

I couldn't find "lions led by donkeys." But I really like the sentiment.

The lions were the British soldiery in WW1 and the
donkeys were the generals. I believe the sentiment
was first expressed by the German forces, who were
appalled by the slaughter at the Somme. I don't
know who the quotation originated from though.

Alan Clark, the recently-deceased British conservative
politian and historian wrote a book called "The Donkeys",
in which he puts the case against the top brass at length.

Yes, I remember the Lloyd George song. From what I do
recall that's all the lyrics there were - repeated over
and over.

Gary

I've done a little more delving and found this
exchange between two German generals, which is
reported in the Bloombury Treasury of Quotations:

Erich Ludendorf: The English soldiers fight like lions.
Max Hoffman(1869-1927): True. But don't we know that they are lions led by donkeys.

Other sources attribute the quote to Ludendorf.

Gary