1939-12-02 — Page 9

י

•

THE CHINĄ MAIL, DECEMBER 2, 1939

"THE WATCH ON THE MAGINOT LINE"

MEN CONFIDENT; 'LET THEM COME"

With The French Army.

one of his men picked up a watch he saw lying in a heap of rubbish. He picked it up to his undoing, for it ex- ploded a mine.

And here is an incident that hap- pened when the French made a tac- tical retreat some days ago. A small outlying post, with a sergeant in charge, was left without instructions. Strange though it may seem, the ser- geant had his bicycle with him.

"They came and the little party

One German post was attacked

and

found Germans to right and to left. outfought. The French party then decided to withdraw. They were fired at as they made their way back, but they joined their unit safely-and the

A GIANT IS STIRRING uneasily, but the War here is still not really awake. He groans in his sleep sometimes, but we can only guess when he will rouse himself, writes a "Daily Telegraph" War Correspondent. It is like early morning in some enormous palace, a tyrant's sergeant still had his bicycle intact.

palace. The master of the household is not up, but there is tremendous activity among the innumerable servants.

Privileged onlookers have been al-wistfulness. The outside world ought sacrifice and lowed to see the preparations for the to be reminded of the day's work. They have been wel-strain which this life represents. comed and shown without reserve all Many of these guardians of the fort kinds of marvels, dreadful marvels, and its secrets have spent years in its now in readiness for the entertain- | labyrinths. Those labyrinths abound ment of the risen giant. Never be-in comforts such as shower baths, fore was there anything of the sort so lifts and tramways, and still the mere elaborately prepared.

visitor has to confess to a feeling of relief when he is once again able to breathe the upper air.

It is not on the surface. The eastern frontier of France will in 1,000 years or so have nothing to show to remind posterity of the year 1939 comparable with Hadrian's Wall or Offa's dyke.

The Great Wall of China has not

· been rivalled as a picturesque spec- tacle by the Maginot Line.

а

Above ground there is a world to all appearance placid. On most days the sound of a shell is rarity. Cows are grazing between the belts of wire: We come across who has in a a young gunner lelsure hour snared a hare. "ADMIRAL" IN COMMAND

A very few miles away there is a The new wonder of the world' is indeed characterised by its modest in-ridge, and you are told that the Ger- conspicuousness. Here and there is a mushroom-so called-of concrete and steel, but there is hardly anything else to catch the eye of the casual passer- by--if one can possibly imagine a casual passer-by in these parts.

But, underground, French in. genuity has elaborated a new world,

between something

the London tube system and a battle- ship. "Subterranean battleship." The phrase is inevitable to describe the forts of the Maginot Line. It has been heard often in recent weeks, and still | it was news to me, when enjoying the hospitality of the commandant of one of these forts, to find he was "the admiral" to his officers and men.

And, by the way, we no longer say "fort" in this part of the world. The word for the new thing which is a fort indeed, but one which assembles the resources of a half a hundred techniques and sciences, is "ouvrage."

Throughout this visit to the new underground world it wanted a per- sistent effort to realise that one was not on board a battle cruiser of some khaki was the strange navy where wear.

As much was said to a young gunner in one of the turrets. He answered with a shade of wistfulness: "Yes, but a real ship would sometimes put into port."

YEARS OF SERVICE Pride and confidence are the pre- vailing notes among these men, in their various ways so zealous, such complete masters of their complex machine.

But it would not be fair to them- it would misrepresent the strange life they lead a hundred feet below ground to leave unmentioned the trace of

THE WARNING

A Vividly Disturbing Picture of the Menace

that

threatens Britain

!

mans are there.

"Let them come," says the com- The whole garrison longs mandant.

for them to come. The garrison is on tiptoe. It is magnificently confident in itself and its marvellous machine. It knows itself impregnable.

POSTAL DELAYS

DESERTED STRASBOURG Where was there in the world to be found a more cheerful city than Stras- bourg, in the days of peace? There was no place of its size where the peo- | ple led a livelier bustle.

To-day that bustle has gone utterly; the people of Strasbourg have gone, nearly 200,000 of them. I have spent a day at Strasbourg, and the sight is one that eyes have perhaps never seen the like of before-a great city, intact and deserted.

Geraniums flower on the balconies of the houses, and the little trellises of ivy stand on the terraces of the cafes. But in mile after mile of streets the blinds are drawn, the shutters down. It is as though a magic spell had been cast,

The scene would be less strange If there were but a few of the sounds of war to be heard, and gashes to be seen In the empty streets, shell holes in the roadway. But Strasbourg is untouched; and not a shot is to be heard.

REVOLT ADMITTED

An alleged letter revealing the part said to have been played by Mr. Churchill, Mr. Anthony Eden and Mr. Hord-Bellsha in con- tinuing the war and causing the Czechs to revolt against Gor- many la published by Hitler's newspaper, the Voelkischer Boo- bachter.

The letter is supposed to have been written by a Czech Jewish refuges In London to A "Dr. Zdenek Thon" in Prague. The newspaper's headlines on this are: "Secret Jewish Lettor Re- vealed," "England's Ministers Only Judah's Men of Straw," "English-Jewish Agitation Seeks Fools for Dirty War Business."

They provide their opposite numbers on the Strasbourg shore with concerts, sandwiching the music with political blandishments.

One day a German soldier came waving a white handkerchief, towards the middle of the bridge and threw a box of cigarettes across the wide bar- ricade.

One

HITLER BOMBING THREAT There seems at the same time to be a belief across the river that wordy threats may affect the defence. can read at the whole distance of the flooded Rhine a quotation from Hitler, exhibited in letters of the size of an advertisement hoarding. It is a say- ing pointless enough. But the Germans must set great store by it, to judge by the trouble they have put them- selves to, making it readable at 300 yards away.

The saying is to the effect that "after a few hours of jolly good bombing" the state of mind of the "warmongers" will be thorough- ly changed. The glat of the pro- paganda at the eastern end of the bridge is that England is the warmonger and that France could If she would enjoy a quiet life only retire from the conflict. seems

The French smile grimly. The Ger- obtain

be means of soft

man cigarettes retrieved from the were despatched down words the French can be persuaded of the charm of Adolf Hitler's character Kehl bridge and the amiability of his intentions. the line for authoritative analysis.

Meanwhile just across the river, a couple of miles away, are the Germans. The Frenchmen one end of the Kehl Bridge, the Germans the other. At the German end

curious belief

the

a

I had the fortune to witness a sur- prise visit from no less an eminence than the Army Commander to pioneer battalion working in a forest near the frontier.

The daily shave is not in the French Army the almost religious obligation that it is with us; and the men as they came scrambling out of the under- been taken for growth might have beings of a different species from the wonderful General, so refined and pale of face and so gloriously decorated.

But in a moment his relation- ship with these muddy woodlan. dere was established. It was al- most fatherly.

They crowded round him, and after but a moment's shyness there were plenty who did not wait to be spoken to before they chipped in. Things were not too bad they all agreed; but not everything was perfect. There was, for instance, the great question of delays in the Army postal service. The Gen- them closely. He eral questioned wanted to know exactly how long it had taken for letters to reach them from home.

One man's complaint was that his people had not written to him for 10 days. The General did not rub it in too hard that this might not be the fault of the Post Office.

in

I do not know what exactly is the power of an Army commander over the working of the postal service the field; but when they went back into the woods the pioneers knew that a great man from on high had heard their grievances kindly and that he would assuredly do anything within reason to straighten things out.

The little incident took place in

a part of the world where the day's work consists of elaborating with wonderful refinement the welcome which

In store for tanks that might any German

to endeavour.

that take That welcome will be both warm and wat.

way.

The rather wild looking pioneers and the exquisitely polished General are collaborators alike absorbed in the task of contriving that the greeting shall be more than adequate.

Many are the stories current about the Inventiveness of the Germans in laying traps on the ground they yielded to the French last month. The colonel of an infantry regiment`told me that

that

LOOK

AT

THIS

VALUE

the

to

BRITISH MADE TEA SETS FOR

6 PERSONS

5 CHARMING NEW DESIGNS –

MODERN STYLE

OUR PRICE

$1250

SET.

WHITEAWAY'S

Dine at the

Parisian Grill

NOW

AIR-CONDITIONED

Good Food

Fine Wines

Dinner and Dance Music

by

THE BLUE DANUBE TRIO

Open till 1 a,m.

}

10, Queen's Road, C.

Telephone 27880.