THE CHINA MAIL, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1958.
BERNAND WICKSTEED fits out for the royal tour
I'M PUTTING ON
MY TOPHAT
-for the Queen
not wearing a hat of any kind, that looks like, a mechanical London. and for another I wondered if brain,
I ought to have a haircut first. ELL, chapa, we are bngs
Wicking
our
again. We are going round the world with the Quecn. And we are taking a top hat ico,
In this New Elizabethan Age the Queen of England sails the seas in person and those who go with her must surely be properly dressed.
But after pacing up and down I pulled myself together and marched in.
"I want a grey top hat to take to Australia with the Queen," I said. Just like that, without any hesitation at all.
"Yes, Air," sald "Have we made a hard hat for you before?"
When it is in place the hatter presses a handle and out comes a ground, plan or blueprint or your head, With this to work on the hatter lays the keel.
go
Days go by and then you
or hatter. In to have the hot fitted the
launched. There was a bit of side play about mine. all right fore and aft, but in a high sea it rolled.
I
confers that they had to hadn't, that I was an absolute something top hal tyro.
Top hats are по you go into a thop and just buy. At least Wickstedd's top lat int. 11 is a proper construc- tlon job like Sydney Harbour Bridge or the Comel,
"Ah well,"
he said. "every
one has to start some time. But
it is a good thing you do not
I had mine built on the slip want a black silk hat. We have ways of
shop in 51. such a long wolting list we James's where top hings are could not have aerve you for treated with the reverence of months. haloes. There is such un air of tradition on antiquity
abou! "But a grey top hat for the Yes, I think we royal tour? could build one in time."
the place I should not be sur prised to Karn that Jullus Caesar had his inure wreaths. made there,
It was
The hatfer took it away to the workshops or Atting-out basin and gave it a rebore or whatever you do to a top hat that rolls.
New han bean launched. paid for (25), and christened with my initials in silk. My
morale is so high when I wear
it that I've hind it on all day at the office.
Between now and next May when we return to the shores of England I think Wicksteed is to have some fun with going
He will also have that hat.
la top-hat shops they do not put one on your head and say. in the "How's thot for size?" They many anxietles, wlih sabolage It took courage to go
with a machine and theft as the main dangers, Orsi Ume. For one thing I was measure you
A
Tame The Little Thugs
PAT ROLLER CONCLUDES THE SERIES "THE LID OFF LONDON'S GANGS"
The handicapped pollee are HANDFUL of girls are not enough character train-
much reading, doing a tremendous amount of walking down a street ing, too
They run a club, good work.
in South-East London. They writing, and arithmetic, and for instance, in the city which are dressed in jazzy clothes, not enough respect. Not boys who have been in trouble nylons, high-heeled shoes, enough discipline." Their mouths are smeared with lipstick. They're on their way to school.
for three hours a must attend week,
After school, they go to
In Croydon, there is a pollec- bomb sites, discuss plans, run club for convicted boys. few shops They learn maybe rald a
swimming, boxing, Rubbish? Impossible? I'm There have been more gangs football, cricket. They get gyms deadly serious. And deadly bred on bomb sites than and body training. The cops serious about some boys, anywhere else in London. themselves do all this in their too, who play cards, smoke, And
loot has been
It is a tremendous plan and swear at school. They are hidden on bomb sites thun
their per- quite beyond the control of in any other enche in the achievement, and wander
entage of boys who their teachers,
nway and get into trouble again Is "Infinitesimally small,”
The little mesdames, of course, are the molls of to- morrow, if we don't watch out. The boys are prospective gangsters.
the
more
spare time.
top
I also fear for its safely in the Pross tents of Aus- tralla, where Jealous .col- leaquis, maddened by envy, may jump on it, maim it, or tear it brim from limb.
Should I survive I'shall i put it in a glass case with an inscription saying: "This hat clrcumnavigated the world with the Queen of Eng- land, 1953-1954. It was jeered at by Jamaicans, barracked by Bermudans, and feared by the Filjlans."
Yes, we are going 10 have Dome fun with that hat. If we don't I'll eat it.
P. When I got home and put on my top hat, my aged six, said: "Why, daddy, look just like a coach-
you
man."
son,
* Say-Britain's too small for you-why don't you get out and go some place else ↑ "
--(London Express Service),
T
SUEZ
TRIESTE
3.
Cummings
"Say-you can't stay there. Imperialism's "Say-stay right theres you're doing
outmoded in this Era of Democracy."
fine "
London Express Service
“TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY”
WITH
Chapter Nine
ALEXANDER ON
THE ITALIAN FRONT
Field-Marshal Alexan- der's summer offensive in Italy was to start оп August 26, 1944. On the preceding afternoon the. Prime Minister flew to the battle headquarters of Gen. Leese, commanding the Eighth Army.
B
The
By Sir Winston Churchill
here by the breaking in full loose fighting was in progress.
career of these two great In a few minutes the aide-de- armies, the Fifth and the camp came back and brought Eighth, and by the milking me to his chief, who had found out of the key personnel in a very good place in the stone buliding, which was in fact an thent
old chateau overlooking a rather sharp declivity.
nt
of
1
The consequence of this has been the withdrawal from the EFORE starting I
Italian front of three German
Here one certainly could sec divisions, Including one very all that was possible, The Ger hours spent Home
strong Panzer having an ac mans were Bring with rifles and with Alexander in
tive
thick scrub 13,500. nuchineguns from Btrength
direct on the farther side of the valley. his headquarters These have proceeded
to the Chalons
about area. Thus
500 yards away. Our camp. While I was there
about five divisions have been front line was beneath us. The Gen. Devers and another
deployed against Eisenhower, fring was desultory and inter- high American general ar- which would not have hap- mittent, But this Was tho pened had we continued our nearest I got to the enemy and unexpectedly. rived
advance here in the direction the time I heard most bullets in of the Po and ultimately on the Second World War. much-disputed operation [in South of France]
the great city [Vienna]. ... the
and
started Alexander "Anvil," now called "Dra- goon," was at present under together"
ning about o'clock. Hla aide-de-camp and Gen. Patch, but Devers as Tommy (Cmdr. Thompson, the Deputy to Gen. Wilson author's personal assistant] NHE next morning plenty of [Supreme Commander, came in a second car. We were work arrived both by tele- Mediterranean]
had
for thus a conveniently small party.
It appeared that Gen. Eisenhower was many weeks been drawing The advance had now been in gram and pouch. Road To Crime This sort of club points the units and key men ruthless- Progress for six hours, and was worried by the approach of the
sald to be
making headway German Elvisions I had men- way to fighting crime, run byly from the 15th Army But na definite Impressions people with strong personalities.
Group, and particularly could yet be formed. We first toned to Smuts as having been
withdrawn from Italy. Children
runs a pub scramble all i met a man who
up a high glad that our offensive, pre outstanding rock pinnacle, upo pared under depressing con- over the place. Then they around Clerkenwell Road. He is from the Fifth Army under climbed by
Mark Clark.
the top of which a church and ditions, had begun. I drafted that by climbing a the type of personality I mean.
village were perched. part it will bring He is a small Irishman with them within reach of a the blarney. The King's Cross warehouse and a window boys used to come around the Hundreds of youngsters pub. It was rough, tough, and bawdy. He talked them out of He off on have started
the coming around any more. road to crime that way in didn't throw them out, because London.
he isn't physically capable of doing that.
country.
A juvenile expert said to find
me:
"The trouble ties mainly at school. Not all schools, of course. But some. There's
certain
Most of them have mothers who have to go out and work.
The mothers, of course, say that they have no alternative to work. They blame the schools. The schools refuse to take the responsibility, They blame the home life of the youngster.
Somewhere between
Iwo
points of view Mssibly lies.
It certainly
many
these the truth
put
A Miracle
He just talked to them per- firmly. He sunsively, softly.
his hand up when uny trouble started. One by one the boys started to drift away from the pub.
A man who watched all this happen sald to me: "It had to be seen to be believed. They doesn't warrant
These call it still
a miracle. the complacency you find in ton foughs just became the meekest The of lambs when told to shut up, places in London. crime-has-always-been-with us And finally they went away and It shows buck, come instance, that a boy who broke
have
a personality, guts and from a gang in North London you what can happen when you a human being hed his home set on fire (it was They respected
ira Arst time time to put out); for the
their discovered in that boys steal money from
10m Ilves," home and dare their parents to prosecute; that one, being sen-
Headaches BAPER people don't seem to realise, for And "Toothaches
Colds
are quickly overcome by
CAFASPIN
•
THREE
Largest Morning Circulation
on
The thugs must be tamed in lenced, tried to attack the the way the we: Irishman tamod
boys The the them. who was magistrate bench, and from his lips poured corrected That is
from London. a perfect torrent of abuse.
SILENT
Largest Afternoon
Circulation
SALESMEN
must
the lesson
be
Largest Sunday Circulation
10
motor
*
ren
I was
telegram to the President ex- plaining the position as I had learned it from the generals on the
and from my own
kinds of pinnacles and porches to which I have hitherto bern confined.
The plan is that the Eighth
or Army ten divisions, very heavily
yond which
the 02nd Division, understand wii shortly reach 115, On the other hand. I take it for granted that no more will be withdrawn from Italy....
As to the future, con- tinuous
the
employment agains enemy will have to be
for the
found weighted in depth, will endeavour to
pierce the turn Gothle Line and.
Fifth Armies man The The whole enemy's position enter
on
the level ing the Po valley
but at the night of Rimini, moment, depending on the reactions of the enemy, Mark
with his Clark will strike eight divisions, and clementr of both armies should con- verge to Bologna,
If all goes well, I hope that the advance will be much more rapid after that, and that the continued
heavy fighting further harm will prevent being done to Elsenhower by“, the withdrawal of divisions from Italy.
I have never forgotten your talks to me at Teheran about Istria, and I am sure that the
five
arrival of a powerful army in Trieste and Istria in four or live weeks would have an effect for outside purely mill- tary values. Tito's people will be awaiting us in Istria. What the condition of Hun- will be then I cannot gory imagine, but we shall at any rate be in a position to take full advantage of any great new situation.
It was known that the troops of "Dragoon" were likely to be raised to an Army Group Com- mand, and that Devers would be dedignated as its chief. Na-
know. turally he sought to gather all
1-wished to convey in an the forces he old for the great
and uncontroversial form be entrusted
our scho enterprise to
THE inhabitants,
wernen, some out to greet us of frustration, and at the same him, and to magnify it in every
from the cellars in which they time to indicate my hopes and way,
had been sheltering. It was at ideas for the future. If only I I saw very soon, although no
President's serious topic was broached, that once plain that the place had could revive the
Masonry, Interest in this sphere we might there was a coolness between just been bombarded.
alive our design of Alexander. him
Gay, and wreckage littered the single still keep debonair, Alexander street. "When did this stop?" an ultimate advance to Vienna. Naples, miling
the small Prime Minister to President asked excused himself after the first Alexander
tics.
and
300,
few minutes, and left me in the crowd who gathered round us.
"About moes tent with our two Ameri- inning wryly.
ngo," they can vinitors. As Gen. Devers quarter of an hour did not seem to have anything said.
There was certainly a magni- particular to say to me, and I
upon ficent view from the ramparts of did not wish to enter
The whole thorny ground, I also confined bygone centuries. myself to civilities and generali- front of the Eighth Army offen- apart But ive was visible. from the smoke puffs of shells bursting 7,000 or 8,000 yards scattered fashion away In
to there was nothing
Presently Alexander said that EXPECTED Alexander to re- we had better not stay any burn, but he did not, and after longer, as the enemy would ma about 20 minutes Devers took turally be firing at observation his leave. There was of course posts like this and might begin no publie business to be done, again So we motored two or I wished him all good luck in three miles to the westward, and his
operation, and his courtesy had a picnic lunch on the broad was slope of a hillside, which gave call came to an end. I
view as the conscious, however, of the ten- almost as good a sion between these high officers peak and was not likely to at- beneath an impeccable surface tract attention, of politeness.
behind
out
DID
rage
this mis-
oa
Eighth and once the Ger- armies in Italy havo been destroyed or unluckily have made their escape. This employment can only
a movement
tho
form
шка
of first to Istria and Trieste and ultimately upon Vienna... congratulate you - upon the brilliant success of the landings in Southern France. I earnestly
the retreat- hope ing Germans may be nipped.
Valence; or
Lyons
at
and rounded up. Another mob of about 90,000 is up- parently streaming back from the South via Polliers,
ROOSEVELT sent me another
telegram on Sept. 4.
ΟΙ
I share your confidence that the Ailled divisions we have in Italy are sufficient to do the tark before them and that the battle commander will press the battle unrelentingly with the objective shattering the
.forces. After enemy breaking the German forces on the Gothic Line we must "go on to use our divisions in the way which best alds Gen. Eisenhower's decisive drive Into the enemy homeland,
As to the exact employment of our forces in Italy in the future this is a matter we can direuse at Quebec. It seerns me that American forces to the west- should be used.
um completely
not send of £11 I reached whither I flew
to rective did I Aug. 28, nor
three days answer 11 Roosevelt
28 Aug. 44 the Field-Marshal Alexander re after I got home. ceived a telegram from S.H.A. President Roosevelt to Prime EF. asking for efforts to bo made to
with- prevent the
drawal of
more
divisions from
front. This of
[German]
the Italian Was course. the consequence of the great 111 weakening of our armies Italy and has taken place entirely since the attack on
four the
In all, Riviera. divisions have. left, including a very strong Panzer en route for Chalons.
been
However,
in spite of the weakening process Alexander began about three weeks ago to plan with Clark to turn or pierce the Apennines. For this the British XIIIth has Corps of four divisions
under
Gen, placed Clark's orders, and we have been ablo to supply him with the necessary artillery, of which his army had been deprived. This army of eight divisions four American unid four British-is now grouped around Florence on a norther-.
News was now received that Presently Alexander came to our toops had pushed on a mile now or two beyond the river Metauro. tell me that we should drive to the airield. We took Here Hasdrubal's defeat had off in his plane and flew north sealed the fate of Carthage, so eastwards for half an hour to I suggested that we should go Loreto, whence we drove to across too. We got into
in halfly axis. Leese's
camp
Monte cars accordingly, and
an hour were across the river. Maggiore.
rond ran into un- Gen. Leese told us that the where the
of olives, groves barrage to cover the advance of, dulating
begin at brightly patched with sunshine. his troops would midnight. We were well placed to watch the long line of distant gun-flashes. The rapid, cease- less thudding of the cannonade reminded me of the First World certainly War. Artillery was
HAVING got an officer guide being used on a great scale. 1 from one of the battalions Before going to sleep I dictat- engaged, wo pushed on through to these glades ull: the sounds of ed "the following mengo
fire and machine-gun Smuts, with whom my correrife,
continuous pondence was
showed we were getting near to ...So for the "Anvil" the front line. Presently warn abortion has had the opposite Ing hands brought us to a stand- effects to those for which its atll. It appeared there was a designer's intended it. Firstly, minefield, and it was only safe it has attracted no troops to go where other vehicles had away from Gen. Eisenhower already gone without mishap. at all. On the contrary, 21⁄2- Alexander and his aldo-de- to three divisions of Germann, camp now went off to recon- rearguard troops will certainly, noitre towards a grey stono roach the main battle-font building which our troops were
Allied before the
lanused, holding, which was said to give It was troops, Secondly, a state of a good close-up view. magnation has been enforced evident to me that only very
Bfiniser.
31 Aug. 44 I was very glad to receive way in your account of the which Gen. Wilson has con- centrated his forces in Italy and has now renewed the offensive. My Chiefs of Staff
feel that a vigorous attack, using all the forces available,
Into should force the enemy the Po valley.
enemy may choose to withdraw
The
ly
from
then. entre- Northern Italy. Since such action on his part might
enable the enemy to release divisions for other fronts, we must do our best his forces while to destroy we have them in our grasp. that Gen. I am confident Wilson has this as his ob- Jective....
It is my thought that wo the German. should press
vigorously in Italy Army with every facility we have available, and suspend deci- sion of the future use of Gou. Wilson's Armies WEL
until
the
the
ward, but
open-minded on this, and in
any event this depends on the progro's of the present battle in Italy, and also in France, where I strongly feel that we must not stint in any way the forces needed to break quickly through the western defences of Germany.
The
Allied
credit
for the great success i Southern
succ
France must go impartially to the combined Allled force, and the
of execu perfection
Its tion of the operation from
beginning to the present be long to Gen. Wilson and his Allied staff and to Patch and his subordinate commanders. chaotic With the present conditions of the Germans In
Southern France, I hope that a Junction of the north, and south forces may be obtained at a much earlier date than was first anticipated.
results of his campaign are better known and we have We shall see that both these. better information as to what
the
Con
hopes proved vain. The army do. We which we had landed on the
Riviera at such painful
Germons may
renew
our Teberan
By skinning the whole front and holding. long stretchen with nothing but anti-aircraft gunners converted to a kind of artillery -infantry and sup- ported by a few amoured brigades, Alexander has also been ablo to concentrato ten British or British-controlled divisione representative of the whole British Empire on the Adriatic flank.
elements of I WAS struck by the emphasis The leading
which this message fald upon these attacked before midnight Gen. Wilson,
an
100
cost
to
talk about Trieste and fairia our operations in Italy arrived lato to help Elsenhower's at "Octagon" (Quebec).
first main struggle in the north, while Alexander's, offensive failed, by the barest of margins
ما
aclilevo
deserved needed.
the
BUCCOSS
it
and we so badly
to
Italy was not to be wholly free for another eight months; on the 25th, and a general Prime Minister to President
and
right-handed., drive opened
Roosevela
31 Aug 44 the barrage advance began at dawn on the All operations in Italy ore Vienna was denied to us and, 20th. An advance of about
conceived and executed by except in Greece our military nine miles was made over a Field-Marshal Aclzander in power "tà influence the libera- large area, but the main
accordance with his general ion of South-Eastern Europe position, the Gothie Line, has directives from the Supreme, was gone.
to be encountered.
Commander the fact that
go
I had the good fortune to forward with this advance, and was consequently, able to forma much clearer im, presalon of the modern battle- fold than is possible from the
to
of
'enemy on the Italian front bas been weakened, by
(Continued Tomorrow)
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