Evening star., 1939-11-03
BY SIR PHILIP GIBBS.
British War CORRESPONDENT,

British War Correspondent,
WITH THE BRITISH FORCES
IN FRANCE, Nov. 81 went to a
part Of our line yesterday where
some Of our battalions are in touch
with French troops. There seems to
me much closer liaison between
the French and British Armies than
there was in the last war, and Ger
tainly In this part Of the line they
are working in close touch with
each other on defensive front, as
I was told by one of our divisional
generals who showed. me his maps
and the elaborate scheme Of defense
now being put into operation.
BY day nothing much Is appar-
ent to the eye. Our men are
mostly sleeping on in their billets,
but at night they get busy man
ming their forward posts, getting
up their supplies and perfecting
their state of readiness for any
attack that may come later on. It Is
cold work for them at night, and
one young observation officer in
charge of a small company occu-
pying one Of these posts told me
that he was frozen to the bone in
the small hours of the morning.
From his observation post, to which
I went with him, he looked out
over a plain Of fiat, soggy ground
with lines of tall poplars pencilled
against the sky and with the tields
cut across by small river and a
railway line. 1t was all very des-
olateI and this small group of men
seem to be alone in this part Of the
line.
Pill Box on Guard.
But they had close neighbors in
pill boxes, which have crossfleld of
fire. A French sergeant and his
men were holding one of the block
houses on his left. He was q fine
type, this young sergeant, and
agreed with me gravely that he
had a great responsibility in COM
manding this advanced post. He
took me inside and swung open his
steel doors through which he gets
his guns in action. Nothing can
touch us here" he told me with
great confidence.
This cement is thick enough to
stand the heaviest shell fire. It is
reinforced with stones as big as my
fist and is of tremendous thickness
above our heads.
He. too, complained of the intense
coldness of the nights in this block
house, where they have no stove nor
any warmth except a pile of straw
In which they huddle. They had q
companion not on the army list.
1t was a black mangrel, which nosed
for his bone in the straw, and was
the pet of this small group of COM
rades, who would rather be in the
Place Pigalle of Paris, but make
the best of this stone dwelling on
the edge Of no mans land, which
is not yet so sinister in its aspect
as that place upon which I used
to gaze from sandbag parapets in a
different kind of war. Are there
any veterans of the last war here?"
1 asked him. He laughed at this
question and shook his head.
New Generation Of Fighters.
I'VE are all Of the new genera
tion.' he said. we know nothing
OF that old chapter of history, ex-
cept what We have heard. And we
live IN hope that we shan't see the
same kind Of business as happened
IN 1914 and the years that followed y
What are the chances?" I asked
him. He looked me In the ewes and
answered enigmatically, "one never
knows. Tomorrow, or tomorrow
week, we may know little more !"
We spent several hours along the
ilne: 1t was very quiet there. But
behind the pale CLINT of autumn
sunlight there lurked that porten-
tlous question of the immediate
future. Tomorrow, or tomorrow
week-what will they bring? There
Is only one man who can answer
this and he is on the other side of
the frontier.
The public at home must be and
certainly Is completely mystified by
the lack Of fighting in France. but
wednesday night q very dis
tineuisl1ed ofhcer, who happens to
be friend of mine, reminded us
mat IN previous history siege war
1are has had periods of Inactivity
lasting far longer than six weeks.
He also reminded us that the first
sentence IN the German war manual
gives one word as the most inn
portant thing in modern warfare
mat word is surprise"
Hitler" he said, "is certainly
keeping us guessing and we should
40 well to remember that behind his
silence and secrecy there NAV he q
surprise in store for u.s."
Knows His Tanks.
The officer who made these re.
marks was giving a talk on tanks
ana armored cars. He knew his SUBJ
Ject, 1or when I first met him he
was young officer of those old
tanKs-mark (which went lurch-
ing over the Somme battlefields in
september of 1916 and afterward
oroke the Hindenburg line. He was
wounded more times than would kill
most men, but not long ago 1 met
MIN IN Berlin, where he was still
interested in tanks and especially
IN German tanks and armored We
h1cles. The German high command
nave put a good deal of their faith
IN this form of machine, which they
copied from ours and have now a
formidable number attached to each
OF their divisions, as Poland knew
to its cost.
But in certain types we are ahead
OF them in design, and we have
improved on our own old types,
both in speed and armor as well as
IN gun power. In addition to our
light, medium and heav ytanks we
have our squadrons of armored cars.
mainly to be used for reconnaissance.
as cavalry was used formerly. I
! kAA