6
UNCHANGING QUALITY
TIGER BEER
MADE FROM, THE FINEST
malt-hops · yeast
Distributed by A. S. WATSON & CO., LTD.
WINĘ DEPT.
Tel 20616
DO YOU WANT TO ENJOY PLAYING ON YOUR PIANO?
THEN KEEP IT IN-TUNE-
AND SEND TO
S. MOUTRIE & CO., LTD.
FOR ONE OF THEIR CERTIFIED
BRITISH TUNERS
ALL KINDS OF PIANOFORTE REPAIRS CARRIED OUT BY EXPERT CRAFTSMEN
S.
Thursday,
HONGKONG TELEGRAPH
THE BEST "TWELVE” --yet costs least!
VAUXHALL
12-FOUR
35 m.p.g. with normal driving,
ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESS. FUL CARS EVER MADE BY VAUXHALL,
DESCRIBED BY THOUSANDS OF OWNERS AND MOTORING JOURNALISTS AS THE IDEAL 12 H.P. CAR.
IMPROVED FOR 1940, IT HAS AN IMPOSING NEW RADIA- TOR GRILLE, BETTER LOOK- ING ALL ROUND, MORE EFFECTIVE ROOM IN THE REAR COMPARTMENT, MORE LUGGAGE SPACE AND A HOST OF OTHER STRIKING FEA- TURES,
Only Vauxhall can givo you such value !
For convincing demonstration apply --
HONGKONG HOTEL
GARAGE
Stubbs Road
The
Tel. 27778-9
Thongkong Telegraphı,
*ISTOLA
Thursday, March 7, 1940.
Wyndham St., Hongkong Telephone: 26615
THE profix "Special to the Telegraph" is used by the "Hongkong Telegraph" to indicate news which is sirletty copyright ander the provisions of the Telecommuni cations Ordinance, 1015. Such nowa as bears the fadlention “UP” in received in Hongkong on the date of publication by Die "United Press Associations, whore- serve all rights and forbid republication. either wholly or in part without previous Arrangement
War Songs
THE complaint has been made
that the war songs which have come to the fore in the last
few months are too trivial and
undignified; some of them are further described as being forced and artificial.
The prime favourite of the last war was "Tipperary," the dignity of which might be hard to dis- cover at first, yet it required in time a dignity of its own, and for many people an inexpressible pathos which made it little short of sacred.
Perhaps, therefore, we should be cautious in criticising the songs our soldiers are singing. They will certainly choose the melodies and words that please them best, without regard to the opinions of the critics. Firat place thus far seems to have been given to "Roll Out the Barrel." Not much dignity is to
MOUTRIE & CO., LTD. be discovered there! The song
YORK BUILDING
FOLLOW
the
Phone 20527
Ligu
REAL QUALITY
CHATER ROAD.
ZORIC
"GARMENT CLEANING SYSTEMİ
AIR CONDITION DRY CLEANING FOR ALL TYPES OF CLOTHING
RUG AND CARPET SHAMPOOING OUR SPECIALTY
THE
STEAM LAUNDRY CO.
Hong Kong Depot, „Peak Depot,
Head Omico & Works 87032
Tel. 21279. Gloucester Bldg., 2nd Flr, Tel. 20038 Tel. 20352. Kowloon Depot...
Tol. 58545.
cam-
may even be a source of annoy- ance to musicians and of acute distress to temperance paigners. But surely the first 100,000or 200,000-cannot be wrong?
Strategy of Siegfried
I would be a mistake at this
stage of the war to under- estimate the strength of the Sleg- fried Line. It is tremendously strong.
"Line" is a misleading word, and should not be used. The series of positions, and the "Sleg- fried-Stellung Is therefore the exact opposite of the rows of static trenches, with their com- munications to support and re- £erves, which those of us who 'served in the Great War remem- ber on the Somme.
ple.
Slegfried tactics are quite sim-
First, you beguile your enemy into forward Zones
which are filled with minefelds, pill-boxes and machine-gus nests.
Second, If he has managed to penetrate so far, you engage him in a forward battle zene,
Third, you harass him in a rear- ward battle zone,
If his reserves have not completely used up by this
2 zone. It is on the
you lure him into your
last-named that the whole system Is based.
Well-planned
counter-attacks
are difficult to withstand. A pause of exhaustion must follow, leaving the initiative in the hands of the defenders.
So much for the strength of the. Siegfried posillons, but what of their weaknesses?
The system has certain dis- advantages fron the defenders' point of view, Pill-boxes, ma- chine-gun nests, and concrete strong points must be manned by small garrisons which may be- come isolated.
They live under conditions of the utmost discomfort, they must go
"Dver
the lop" every night to obtain their rations, they cannot be frequently relieved. If their main lines of communication in the rear are threatened by heavy gunfire, whole ureas of these positions can be starved out,
In many places on the Western Front the Siegfried positions are 15 to 20 miles in depth. They run from Switzerland. to Belgium, through the Rhine flood urea, where the French watched withi amusement in the spring while the Germans fought desperately to save their forts and casemates from disaster. How far, there- fore, is this great zonal depth of value in defence?
It is obvious that to man even
the forward zones against possi- ble attack at any point must em- play enormous numbers of men. The opposite la the case with regard to the French Maginot Line, where
bere a large mobile army can be moved quickly_behind__it_ from one point, to another.
The Siegfried positions have got to be retained. An army must keep its counter-attack troops in the places chosen for them, and there is then not much room for manoeuvre,
Provided
does chery exactly what you expect him to do all is well; but if he does some- thing different, as General Game- lin has done in the Saar Valley. the whole zonal system may be upset.
your
Napoleon said that the transi- tion from the defensive to the offensive is one of the most de-
in llente operations
war. He knew!
war
THIS
will test
muny theories, The power of defensive weapons has increased to such an extent that if one side or the other attacks positions in which the enemy is ready and prepared the result will be dis- astrous. If, on the other hand, manoeuvre is found once more to be possible, huge defensive areas, the work of years of careful plan- ning, may be me useless.
Possibly the assistance of air forces will be found to have made all the difference. Allied planes have flown over the Siegfried positions and photographed them from every angle; there is little about them which is unknown to the General Staffs.
оп
Allied planes can swoop down
the German
counter-attack divisions and upset their concen trations on the roads by machine gunning and bombing.
Let us therefore discard our preconceived theories about Ger- man "lines" and "walls" of de- fence. The Siegfried "positions" are different. Although tremend- ously strong, they are by no means Impregnable.
T. A. LOWE
March 7, 1940.
SAPPER PHIPPS On Active Service
"He used to be a commissionaire.
He led
led the
to
Czechs Freedom
TO-DAY is the 90th an-
niversary of the birth of T. G. Masaryk, the first premier of the Czecho- Slovak Republic, who died in Sept., 1937.
It was he who led the Czechs in their revolt against the Hapsburgs and, who, as President of the Czecho - Slovak Republic, consolidated the state and made it the bulwark of liberalism and democracy in Central Europe.
His birthday will be observed in all parts of the world.
This anniversary will be ob- served with great enthusiasm and deep sincerity in those places where Czechs are free to give expression to their feelings, and in Czecho-Slovakin itself it will certainly not pass
un- observed,
According to reports which have been received, the German Army of occupation and the Gestapo have received. instruc- tions to prevent a repetition of the outbreaks that occurred on October 28: Czecho-Slovak In- dependence Day.
It was as a result of these riots that more than 100
Д warm:
Siberia to Vladivostock where they embarked for Europe.
Masaryk received welcome in Chicago when he visited that city in his journey back to Europe. The city has. always been a strong Czech centre and therefore he received. generous assistance.
The defeat of the Germans in 1918 paved the way for the in- dependent state of Czecho- Slovakia which had been up till then merged into the Austrian- Hungarian State. Masaryk had a difficult task for he had to steer between the reactionaries. on the one side and the Com- munists on the other.
He was drawn into the orbit of the French and British de- mocracies, because his whole. training led him that way. Moreover, his wife Was an. American lady of Hugenot .descent,
From 1918 to 1937 he slowly and methodically built up the state on liberal lines, as an out- post of the democracies in the heart of Europe. The trade of the country flourished and its productions reached every part of the world. Bata, Skoda and Pilsen were household words' which showed how enterprising those people were.
✩
*
✰
THE annexation of Austria however-in-1938-sealed the
doom of Czecho-Slovakia, since it exposed its flank and soon its: turn to be swallowed up came on the Ides of March, that fatal day of 1939,
It
was the crowning treachery, this violation by Hitler of his pledge given to Mr. Chamberlain six months before at Munich, that really pre- cipitated the present war, since it was clearly evident that the word of the Nazi leader could' In no circumstances be trusted. The inclusion of Czecho- Slovakia within the Austro-
students were executed and a ordered them to make that his- Hungarian Empire lasted
further 2,000, together with toric their professors, were conveyed,
to concentration camps.
☆
CZECHOSLOVAKIA has now
journey right across
PLEASE Turn To Page 9.
MAC'S BIG GAME
08:
got its own government HAD not seen Mac for many years "To my surprise it did not im- under President Benes, and its when I ran across him by chance mediately attack me again but stood own army fighting under its In Bahia. He had been an entertain-back, its tail lashing furiously. Then own officers in France. In the g fellow at school, so I was quite 1 remembered my revolver. I drew United States and in Great pleased when he asked ine to his it quickly from beneath my pillow
house for lunch.
and cocked. Again, before, I could Britain and, France there are After a pleasant meal we sat in are the beast leopi,
and again my properly organised departments cool room from which we could look firearm was smashed from my hand. which carry on the affairs of down on the blue water of the At-The blow throw the revolver across: the Czecho-Slovak government,
lantic, dring iced whisky, and think the room, and in a second of time I but the headquarters of the that the troples were not so bad after realised I was lost. Almost at the
all.
kame moment a shot rang out and National Council for the time
After a time our talk turned to the jaguar fell to the ground. being are in Chicago.
bunting, and Moe pointed to a fine "It was only after some minutes. The spirit of Czecho-Slovakia big spotted skin which served as a that I understood what had hap lives on and is bound to emerge floor.
of the polished pened. The revolver had struck. ngainst the wall and gone off. The triumphant in the end, for the "D'you see that skin?" sald Moe, Jaguar had literally shot himself," tradition is strong coming "That Ingunr nearly got me before i through such great men as Com- got it." menius and established once whisky, sat back in his chinir and told He took another long drink of again firmly by Masaryk, that the story.
rug on one corner
Mac looked at the spotted skin fondly and took another whisky.
That was some years ago. Last I met a friend who is just home from India.
week
When the soldiers show a dis- tinct preference for this musical exhortation, the mere civilian can only comment, "So let it bef" whatever the In any case, soldiers' choice in songs for this second affair with the Germans, it is surely preferable that their vocalism should prove a
tall handsome hero who worked "It was in Matlo Groane," he went dis.
"Do you know whom I met out' his way up against great odds,] on. "I was spending the night in a there?" he said. "Old Mac!" inclination to take themselves or
entered two universities Leipzig small cabin and the door had no lock.
I expressed my surprise. I was all alone, but I did not feel the dangers of their job too
and Vienna, became a professor there was any special danger, and sold my friend from India.. in Prague University where he when I lay down I had my rifle be- too. He had a narrow cncape from he's had some thrilling times, seriously, rather than that they
revived the true Czech spirit side me. As an extra precaution a leopard not so long ago. He was should give themselves over to might have been no war.
or a Gorman equivalent, there which he himself expressed so put my revolver under my pillow, sleeping alone in his bungalow when
Who finely, and, finally, became the hot been sleeping for a good and during the struggle Mac's re
then fell fast asleep.
the beast came in. It attacked him.. dull, humourless chanting about knows? The portentous
liberator of the Czechs and time when I was awakened by a soft volver gravity
went spinning across the the "Fatherland," which is all of the leaders of the Nazi creed, ovaka and founder of the New movement, I turned over on my side room and struck the wall. The gun
Republic.
and looked towards the door. You went off and the leopard fell dead. the marching music in which their utter lack of humour, and
con Imagino how I felt when I saw Shot through the heart!" ¡n full grown jaguar standing in the That spotted ritin scents.
be Nazi legions, are permitted to their inability to laugh or emilos
serving Moe very well. I do not' indulge?
are sure symptoms of the MASARYK in 1917 wandered moonight.
from country to country, my rifle. I had it ready and was Afrien or not, but I think he should. "Little by little I reached out for know whether he intends going to politico-mental disease that is rallying his forces. In Russia just about to fire when the beart You see, the spoiled akin anco Had Nazism been capable of largely responsible for Europo's at those Czechs who found the trigger the brute had lasted out might as well have the whole story he collected into three divisione leapt. Before I had no to press covered an African leopard, and ho singing "Roll Out the Barrel," present travail.
and knocked the rifle from my right. themselves in that country, hands."
i
to
Militer. Watson: )