CHINA MAIL The Man Who Atoned
-WINDSOR HOUSE
more
THE "NEW (DIS)ORDER
a
an
WAS
fluently,
as
By A. Beverley Baxter
children.
or
to
atone."
done
hig
wao
Wilson Sin
Arnold
a fierce endurance and bitter suf-fof comment among
"Because of the wrong people strange man. Broadly speaking,fering, steamers chugging up the whom cynicism comes casier than by men like myself," he said,
They called it he knew all and all knew him. Tigris under the burning sun; of sacrifice.
self- "tens of thousands of young men ruined Deeply speaking he knew none Rights high over
cities. advertisement and a cheap vote- |will die. It is terrible. I bellev- and none knew him.
trick. He was He went to the war a soldier and catching
Nobody who ed in Hitler and his creed when the son of Canon Wilson whoa Civil Servant. He came
out knew the man could have talked I should have been denouncing. I left him a keen love of the clas-also an airman,
that way, for very few people did must atone.
must Somehow I sics and a conscience that would He went back to his own job know him. Denmark and Norway not leave him alone.
when the war was over. He rose When the Europe of between- He went to the War Office and were the first of the na-! He was also blessed with that high in the Service. They made the-wars, that Europe that spoke they offered him an important Civil Commissioner and so nobly and acted so shabbily, staff job. He refused and went tions to be overrun by the amazing attribute,
unfailing him memory. It worried and fretted Political Resident on the Persian cast up Hitler out of the agony to the Air Ministry. They said Nazi mechanised har-and badgered "his mind, He fed Gulf. He was a rigid administru- of its suffering, Arnold Wilson they could use him in the Intelli-
If he show-went to Germany to study thegence. "I must fight," was bingers of Europe's "new it on whole acts of Shakespeare's tor and a just one.
plays which he would reel out those he governed it was because ed. He was more than impressed. ing office of the Royal Air Force ed little pity for the failings of new movement. He was impress-answer. He went to the recruit- order. Denmark has year after, never mistaking or
he had none for his own. His He was genuinely moved. word,
The and demanded to be examined for necessarily accepted what misplacing
service completed, Arnold Wil-apparent self-sacrifice and devo- his physical fitness. Although 55 for it is the inevitable.smoothly and monotonously.
returned to England. He began life as a regular sol-son
Hetion of Nazlism stirred his being. years of age he passed every test
He liked the ruthless He was always conscien-
efficiency because one of his axioms But Norway, with a little dier.
tious, meticulous,
with which it moved to attain its to keep himself absolutely fit. prompt 10 its geography on
And the dark side of it aims.
With his
So he went into action, perform
duty.
Sand- At
escaped him. he never saw the lowest commissioned rank in side, is proving less sus-hurst he won the King's Medal
Honour
the wretched thinkers shut away the Air Force he served as a gun- ceptible to the
Nazi and the Sword of
behind the wires the best all-rounder among the
intended the party ner cooped in a turret threat.
gentlemen Cadets of
year.married and had his
He bosses swilling champagne on the for the slim bodies of young men. From his brother officers he stood wrote on many subjects and edited | subscriptions of men and women Over the land, over the moun- of a national review. He was knight-who went short of bread to pay tains and over the sea he flew. news now begin-out for the many-sidedness
He fought in the skies over Nor- his interests, his seriousness, his ed and elected to Parliament. But them. ning to find its way out of capacity for hard work.
that relentless conscience still Back to England he came as on way during that disaster. Flying would not let him alone There advocate, as the advocate of over Germany оп those keen Norway in considerable In 1903 he went out to serve was, for example, his duty to friendship between Democratic spring nights he confronted cold,
He passed from quantities indicates that in India.
the help hospitals.
England and Nazi Germany. uncertainty, fatigue, danger. He Army to the Political Service, | But he could not give them It was not his habit to restrain was as brave as any manı and unrest has been increas-He was stationed in Persia, acted money. So he gave thent his his convictions or to
tone his as uncomplaining. But the odds ing there for some time. as British Consul in city after blood instead for transfusion. His views down. He said and he were heavy and the war Was
ty. pitted his wits against the life had been hard and It indicates that similar agents of Tsarist Russia.
healthy wrote what he thought, quite in-going badly. and vigorous. His blood was different to abuse and serenely An anxious House of Commons turmoil characterises the He was often alone. He read rich in certain properties that were impervious to awkward points gathered to hear the Prime Minis- rule of the Nazis over many books and he stored the in constant demand. Many calls that were raised against him. ter. It was one of those debates mind. While came to him. He answered them He believed in his case and he that historians, dramatists and other occupied nations, knowledge in his
his memory was occupied and all.
argued it until Grmany gave her film producers will be reconstruct- even though opposition his conscience was satisfied Arnold At the by-election which re-ianswer. That was in Septem-ing till the end of time. It was
Wilson was happy.
him to Parliament hisber, 1939. has
the debate that brought Chamber- become so not yet
War came to Asia from the Labour opponent was badly hurt! Arnold Wilson Was stunned. lain down. Arnold Wilson rose overt or violent as to be west. Wilson went out with the in an accident and lay weak from It was as if Hitler's blow against to speak. He wore his Air Force Force to loss of blood. Wilson furnished civilisation had struck him across blue. There were many ribbons on his chest. There he stood earnestly pleading for more re- straint, more dignity, while mem- ber after member rose to assail the tottering Chamberlain, Gov- ernment.
The
turned
observed in neighbouring|Indian Expeditionary
Irak. The campaign left him his own blood at once to remedy the eyes. By chance we met and States with a press still with many memories; memories of the loss. There was a good deal The poured out his soul to me. free to report it to the world.
Desert
Mechanisation Found Key To British
Coup
One of the
marvels connected; with Gen. Sir Archibald Wavell's across the desert, storms anci cold
But in Norway, one Nazi writer finds himself reduced to asserting de- fensively that even Nor- wegian Nazis "should have a right to exist!" In Western Norway, particu- larly, a pro-British_atti- tude is marked. And at- rapid advance tempts of the Quisling through sand "government" to Oust nights, was the smooth working of the maintenance system that made local officials in favour of sustamed high speed possible. Nazis appear to be with- Tanks, in particular, demand a out effect, since the people high standard of efficiency in this respect. In Britain's armoured are reported as ignoring divisions, each brigade has its
its lighti the orders of the central "light recovery" section.
and an ordnance repair section, authority.
field park section, which curries in packets all light material required
As long ago as Novemfor use by the regimental light- ber an acute situation aid detachments,
Behind all this is the divisional
munications,
I saw him and I was astonished at the change, The great frame was almost gaunt, the cheeks sun- ken, there were warning shadows under his eyes.
throwing supports to
And because I loved the man, I went up afterwards and pleaded' with him. I took him to my house. I reasoned, argued, tried persuade. Whatever the into confusion, keeping the foe atonement he thought necessary from effective reorganisation by he had surely made it now. "It "It may be I rapid sustained advance of bomb-may be," he said. er-aided armoured fighting ve- have made my atonement.
But hicles, while truck-borne infantry now something else has happened. enemy, to shift gears, skew him-rushed up to consolidate the posi-It's those boys in my Squadron. self round sideways in a self-tions gained, to subdue the points They've come to look to me in resistance, and to rather a fine way. . . . I couldn't let round up the prisoners.
them down. You see, when I adjusting seat, and inake away at of stubborn top speed.
This is 2 vital consideration To appreciate how this new joined the R.A.F., I took a vow. since the dingo's job is to carry a force has come about, one needs to I swore to serve as a gunner for
And as a gunner
I platoon commander on a personal consider a transformation that has one year.
taken place in Britain's land for- must see that year out.' ces here and in the Middle East He went away into the black-out since the fall of France, which and I was left there wondering.
Brilish expeditionary | Now it happened that two weeks its mechanical equip- later I was appointed to an im- portant post in the Ministry of Aircraft Production. I needed a and man who was experienced eloquent. A man with forceful- ness and strong personality and I thought and thought of Arnold Wilson.
By R. Maillard Stead
reconnaissance, or convey dispat- ches at thnes when the tanks are preserving wireless silence.
cost the
force all ment.
arose between the "gov-workshop which takes on all the
The only redeeming feature of ernment" and the Su-heavy repair work.
the defeat in North France was Court,
This is not the spectacular side and in
that preme
it caused compulsory re- of modern mechanised warfare, December this culminated But neither is
equipment of the British Army on gasoline delivery, Radio In Every Tank
absolutely the most modern lines. in the resignation of the except perhaps when done the way
Because of the speedy intercom- This process now has been carried
Two things were in my mind. the Germans sometimes did it in Current reports Court.
military authorities
One-was that we really needed France by having 'planes bring munication, essential between the so far that
me they believe Britain
him. The other was that we must show the Norwegian up gasoline, making a crash land- armoured units, a wireless trans- tell
mitter and receiver are strung out possesses in its Royal Armoured Nazis as unable to police ing with it if necessary.
on every tank. At times, however, Corps, tanks and other armoured save him from death,
as good as or Once more the House of Com- the country and say they Vital To Success it is either inappropriate or im-vehicles at least
possibly superior in certain re-mons was meeting, meeting in the possible to use them, are compelled to call for
These prosaic matters are vital The motor battalion is a new spects to those at Germany's dis- shadow of mighty happenings and I was certain Arnold Wilson would German help.
of Britain's to success, however, and in Brit- feature
armouredposal.
flood be there. The Nazi
was ain's sudden desert thrust the or-division, each of which is now
Holland rolling westward.
wag engulfed. The Belgians had gone
a
and its supporting services, which
im- The motor
battalion has
Proof Of Efficiency
the
to
con-
Frequent reports of ganisation of them was as smooth self-contained formation, com- physical attacks by Nor-moving as the tanks and armoured prising a proportion of all arms Operations in the western des- under and France was drowning.
cars and trucks themselves. wegians on German police
It was precisely the non-arrival are needed for fighting on its own.ert have provided the first real il-All those things for which
lustration of what the Royal Ar-West had stood were threatened paint а
that of mechanical picture
transports from
moured Corps' formations can do in as they had not been threatened looks like anything but a Italy, that, according to Marshal portant duties to discharge.
Rodolfo Grazioni, was responsible
It is a force of infantry carried attack. In France, the Royal Ar- since the Goth rattled at the gates diagram of order, new or for the fact that he had not already by motor transport, fighting or divisional reconnaissance, but it back to Dunkirk. Only our amaz
moured Corps was responsible for of Imperial Rome. The British Army fought its way stubbornly old. The press, no less attacked the British by the time foot, and required to be capable of
was then-as an eyewitness ex- they attacked him. than many of the people,|
doing a long route march in case pressed it "all over the shop," theng Air Force, sustaining a com- Working in close collaboration of necessity.
Army Tank Brigade being north the narrow seas, was there
bat hopelessly unequal up above the seems to be maintaining with the motor battalions, It has the responsibility for see of the Somme and Britain's only preserve the freedom of men's a sullen independence of/heavy tanks, the cruiser tanks anding that the tanks are not frittered armoured division being south of souls, the liberty of their
other units is another innovation-away in an attack →→
clearing the
that river.
sciences into ages beyond the posed authority; for the an elusive machine known collo-way for them, overcoming anti-
Not only were these two com-computing of men. Norwegian Nazis com-quially as "the dingo," an Austra- tank opposition, and making sure
Parlia- So Europe's last free ponents of the corps separated in- that the tank commanders
united in action, }ment assembled to hear the new plain that they cannot lian term for wild dog.
car has heavy gentlemen with a prodigious stead of being
Winston Minister Mr. but the motor battalion which Prime get the proper
about--get support armouring, bullet-proof tires, a amount to think from the newspapers. In- very powerful engine, and a happy much rest as possible-particular- should have been an integral part Churchill. But he was not there. "in of the armoured division; was Perhaps after all he had not been capability for running forward or ly at night when they are north of the Somme and certain able to get leave, deed, reports from Sweden backward at speeds up to 60 miles harbour.”
The day wore on towards late say newspapers have had an hour without turning around. The same considerations apply other detachments were lacking as
evening. I could not sit still This unique characteristic en-in withdrawal, and the motor bat-well.
listening to the sequence of the to be suppressed repeated-ables the driver to advance along tallon provides an armoured bri- Despite the persistent threat of back bench speeches. Outside in ly for attacking the a road, and if suddenly made gade commander with means, un- a possible invasion of Britain by Parliament Square I bought an aware of the presence of the der his own administration, of Germany, many tanks and other evening paper. There was his Quisling outfit.
equipment have been sent out to picture. He looked at me from The German Nazis in
General Wavell's whirlwind of- Egypt and, to cite Marshal Grazi-the front page. A few lines un-
Royal Armoured Corps thrustinging superiority of the armourednold Wilson, M.P., was missing.
This little scout
covering his retreat.
to
as
Norway evidently are ror to submerge the char-fensive has been a tale of the ani's report: "It was in the crush-derneath explained that Sir Ar- learning that it takes acter of a people devoted unexpectedly through the units, which were employed en His was one of the "planes over more than might to estab- to individual freedom and Italian areas, turning toward the marse, that the reason for the Germany that failed to return.
coast to strike from flank and rear, [enemy's initial success was to be Arnold Wilson had atoned, and. lish order, more than ter-national independence. as well as the front, severing com- \found."
his conscience was at pancuz