THE CHINA MAIL, JUNE 15, 1940
RUSHING B.E.F. REINFORCEMENTS TO FRANCE
London, To-day. DESCRIBING THE DEPARTURE a few days ago of British troops for France, Mr. Colin Wells, in a broadcast talk yesterday, said that, despite the fact that they left at short notice, every detail
in the case of one unit was perfect, even to certain extra equipment ordered by the Com- manding Officer in addition to the full issue of ordinary equipment.
J
How this extra equipment came to be ordered was as fol- lows:-A sister-regiment was represented with the B.E.F. in Flanders and hints about the nature of the war were passed from the officers of that regiment to the other one which is now in France.
LONDON'S SECRET A.R.P. HEADQUARTERS
(Continued from Paga 10)
stretcher partics at Enfield, how many re- pair squads at West Ham, how many decon. -tamination gangs at Croydon, how many inoblle hospital units at Paddington; and
so on.
a
During a raid, messages will pour into the War Room, saying that so many Fulham stretcher parties are at work in such street, so many ambulances from Enfield at such 2 street, so many decontamination gangs from Wandsworth in such a street: and, as these messages are received, the Operations Omeer will take from the Tally Board pins corresponding to the units at board only work, leaving behind on the
those units at that moment unemployed.
He will at once stick the pins in the ap- propriate streets on the "Current Events" Map, and so, by looking at this map and then at the Tally Board, it is easy to see how many A.R.P. units are out on a job, and where, and how many still remain un- affected by the raid.
I, for instance, Battersea sends the War Room an S.O S for help during a raid, one glance at the Tally Board will tell whether rescue units can best be afforded by Wand. sworth, Lambeth, Chelsea or Westminster.
The "Current Events" Map is a quick moving map that records the rushing about of A.R.P. units all over London.
The "Damage" Map is more static. The yellow (gas) pins, the red (fire) pins, the blue (high explosive) pins, the apple green (dock damage) pins, the light blue (gas, electricity and water main) pins, remain on the scene of damage until the situation 19 safely in hand.
The men on duty in the War Room are: the Officer-in-charge, the Operations Officer, two Tally Board officers, the Plotting Clerk (who attends to the maps), and their clerks and assistants.
"Every town hall and A.R.P. headquar
a Control ters in the London Region has Room, which is a smaller and less compli cated version of the War Room," I was told. "They are all designed so that those run- ning the civil defence of London may work calmly and in safety from bombs and gas, and know exactly what is happening during
a raid."
I went into the next room, where I saw the organisation on which the working of the War Room muat depend.
About twenty girls were sitting at tele- phones and teleprinters. They are the ears of an air-raid as the war rooms are the eyes, Elaborate precautions have been taken to make sure that their contact with the network of A.R.P. will not be broken during an attack on London.
The girls were, reading and knitting, as they have been doing for six months, with the exception of those times when they have been busy with mock raids. Now and then one would take up a telephone and write a message.
"Two incendiary bombs in Sloane Square," I heard repeated in a cool telephone-service voice. "Near Peter Jones. Message ends.' "You see the Chelsea scheme is still go ing on," someone explained.
So we left the bright, secret rooms with their rush of filtered air, and went up out into a black, war-time night."
"Few people, realise that for six months something like two hundred thousand people have been keeping watch and ward day and night over London," said my friend. "A.R.P, never sleeps. If the sirens went at this minute, the organisation would not spring to life, because it is alive-and waiting."
That is London in 1940: a city on guard.
ITALY CONDEMNED
London, To-day.
The men of the two regiments also exchanged something, although it was not technical details; it was inspira- tion,
As one tough miner put it: "Those lads have done their stuff. Now we
are going out to do ours!"
Among them were some veterans from Flanders. These did not show the same excitement as those going into battle for the first time, but they were none the less eager to get back into the fray.
but
the
a
Morale Is not everything, these men have, in addition, other things It takes to make soldier. They are as fit as athletes, Inured to hard living and fully trained in modern warfare.
Mr. Colin Wells watched guns and equipment being loaded. Every item, from field guns to the smallest details, was brand new,
Convoys For Miles
On the roads, convoys stretching for miles were converging on the embar- kation point-guns, tractors, transport vehicles, ambulances, sections of pon- toon bridges, gear.
and all sorts of army
Around them ran country-children, just out of school, with their gas-mask cans dangling around them-a grim reminder of the evil threat of total war.
To them, the soldiers were just symbols of excitement and heroism.
But to Mr. Colin Wells the thought came irresitibly as he watched:-
"These men are going out to offer their courage, their strength and their lives, maybe, to make for children like these a world without gas-masks!"
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