Evening star., 1939-10-16
Front Held by British
Tranquil, but Full
OF Dynamite
Nuzi Attuck Will Meet
Force Deeply Dug In,
Heavily Protected
BY WILLIAM H. sTONEMAN.

WITH THE BRITISH EXPEDI-
TIONARY FORCE SOMEWHERE
IN FRANCE, Oct. 13.-Delayed0 >
If and when, and no matter how,
the Germans try to attack France
in the sector where we now are So
journing. they will find themselves
face to face with a mass OF British
infantry and artillery, deeply dug in,
backed by concrete pillboxes and de-
Tended by tank traps and natural
obstacles enough to dismay any
mechanized army.
The Germans will find themselves
being blasted by mass of guns such
as they have never faced even on
the Somme and a first-rate, fast
moving, modern army, fresh and
better equipped to meet them than
and British army has ever been
before.
Today we visited division which
was holding down a sector of the
frontier, digging in and preparing
for an attack which may or may not
come. At one point during the ex-
pedition we marched right up to a
barbed-Wire fence bounding France
without, it is interesting to note,
having anybody take any notice at
all.
Road to Front Busy.
The road to the frontier was full
OF speeding British Army trucks
carrying men and supplies to their
positions In and Immediately back
OF the line. Every town and village
had its collection OF khaki-clad
youngsters, its British trafiic police
men and its hard-looking military
police. In the fields along the way
strangely un-British- looking peas
ants labored with their crops, paying
little or no attention to their gallant
allies.
Miles from the frontier we saw
the first traces of the British de-
fenslve positions. Suddenly groups
OF trees began to produce batteries
OF guns, machine-gun nets and COL
lectlons OF Tommies digging trenches
or empiacements. Everything had
been camouflaged with loving care
and strange airman flying over
head would probably have seen noth-
| ing
Near the frontier we stopped in a
small village. Several hundred
yards farther on, we came to the
nrst line defenSes. Pillboxes the size
and shape of large haystacks loomed
up as far as We could see in either
direction. A few yards beyond
them lay the actual frontier marked
by small creek full of international
mlnnoWs. On the other side of the
creek stood thick forest, a natural
barrier which made the tank traps
OF the Franco-British barrier seem
unnecessary. This wood was once a
smuggler's paradise and it contin-
ued to serve that purpose until after
war actually began.
Tranquil-And Full of Dynamite.
Then the British arrived and de-
clded that the nonsense ought to
stop. Today, the frontier is sealed
as tight as a drum. and local viii
layers have had to find new outlets
for their ingenuity.
Through gunport in one of the
pillboxes we looked out at the coun-
tryside from which the enemy NAV
some day come, II he is foolish
enough. In the immediate fore
ground few cows grazed lazily.
making beautiful II unusuable tar
get for the turret's guns. Beyond,
and directly across the frontier. Law
the forest and away in the back
ground. sleepy village. Two gun
ners with brogues that could be cut
with knife explained the intrica-
cies of their guns and expressed the
hope that they would soon be able
to use them. Through their sights
and the turret's persicope we could
see the cows rolling their eyes.
outside, we made our way through
series of barbed-wire entanele-
mentS over several anti-tank bitches
and passed a Bairnsfather group of
Tommies digging in the mud.
This is the British front today
tranquil and pleasant and full Of
dynamite.
tcopyrirht, 1888. ch.c.so Daily News, .ns3