dealt with on the Kokoda Trail. He may have genuinely believed that another commander in the same circumstances would have pushed back the Japanese and re-taken Kokoda. This is the tack taken by Dudley McCarthy in the official war history; "Blamey and Herring, who did not at that time understand so well the circumstances in which Potts found himself and the way he had acquitted himself, genuinely misjudged him". Other historians feel that Potts was a scapegoat, removed by Blamey to avoid a showdown with MacArthur. MacArthur maintained in a letter to the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, General George Marshall, on 6 September that "the Australians have proven themselves unable to match the enemy in jungle fighting. Aggressive leadership is lacking". Peter Brune alleges that Blamey's removal of Potts was simple self-preservation. "It is staggering to contemplate that an Australian brigade commander could be thrust into a campaign with such a damning inadequacy of military intelligence, support and equipment and yet fight a near flawless fighting withdrawal where the military and political stakes were so terribly important and that could then be relieved from his command as a reward." General Robert Eichelberger wrote to Herring in 1959, after McCarthy's history appeared: The "running rabbits" incident On 9 November Blamey addressed the men of the 21st Brigade on the parade ground at Koitaki. The men of Maroubra Force expected congratulations for their efforts in holding back the Japanese. However, instead of praising them, Blamey told the brigade that they had been "beaten" by inferior forces, and that "no soldier should be afraid to die". Captain H.D. "Blue" Steward, medical officer of the 2/16th recalled "The troops could have withstood the Japanese field gun more easily than what they received. Blamey got them on edge almost at once by saying that they had been beaten by inferior troops in inferior numbers. Then he made his famous remark that 'the rabbit that ran away is the rabbit that got shot'. The whole parade was almost molten with rage and indignation." Blamey's personal assistant Lieutenant Colonel Norman Carlyon, realised that damage had been done. "Standing beside the small platform from which Blamey was to address the troops, I realised that he was in a most aggressive mood. He was soon expressing this in harsh words ... It amazed me that Blamey should deal so insensitively with the men of such