Evening star., 1939-11-10
British Army Works
Hard Under Threat
OF Impending Tragedy
Air Is Like Thot Which
Hung Over Poles Before
Nozis Began Attack
By WALTER DURANTY.

BY WALTER DURANTY.
WITH THE BRITISH ARMY, in
France, Nov. 10 (N.ANA).-It re-
quires some one like Shakespeare to
report properly this war" Because
no one less could do justice to its
ever-present farcical character and
comedy, plus always its terrific sense
Of impending tragedy.
The tragedy may not occur at all,
or not for several months. But it
may occur tomorrow, and I know it
If they don't. I talked no less gayly
three months ago with youngsters
In the Polish Army in Warsaw, and
1t was talk of if and when and what
will happen then.
But just suppose that Herr Hitler
cracks down tomorrow, in which case
the British Army might meet a more
savage onslaught than their fathers
met at Mons. I say fathers ad-
visedly, because I came here with
boy in the flying corps who, at one
point said quietly, would you mind
stopping here at this cemetery?"
"Why?" I asked. IF you are in
terested in cemeteries, there is a
far bigger one farther on"
He answered me simply, my
dad was killed here in '1S, and I've
never seen his grave-I've always
lived in Australia, and then I served
at Singapore. But won't keep you
long. I know the graves number
and the line where 1t is located"
Flowers Placed on Graves.
They were small, gray-green head
stones, not wooden crosses, as in
most Of the cemeteries, and my
young friend was happy to find that
the French, who have a cult for the
dead beyond the Anglo-Saxons, had
put small punches of flowers on all
these English graves just a week
ago tomorrow, on All Saints day,
which they call in France so touch
1ngly "the festival-la fete-of the
dead"
But the young British Army in
France recks nothing of evil prog
nostics and digs hard in the thick,
sticky mud and curses it loud and
deep.
Yeah, laad, It's a yoong maan's
war said brawny guards re-
servist-he must have been all of
30-as he heaved up another sack
Of earth for a breastwork-they
must have breastworks because they
hit water 6 feet down.
How much do the sacks weigh?"
I asked.
He replied unblushingly, "a hun
nerweight," which is 1l2 pounds,
and added, But some of these
yoonguns saay it's less" from which
I reckoned the sacks weighed 60
pounds or thereabouts, and even
that's enough when you carry them
by scores all morning and after
noon.
Less than hundred yards away,
however, machines were aiding man.
Two great excavators were digging
a tank-trap-a deep, sliding hole
with a 9-foot blank face at the
bottom for a tank to try to climb
plumb under the fire of one of the
concrete pillboxes with which the
French have dotted the whole line
at intervals of 500 to 1000 meters.
Forts Almost Impregnable.
The miniature Maginot forts are
complete with anti-tank guns, ma
chine guns and periscope, almost
impregnable to anything save a
direct hit by heavy shell. But the
garrison wasn't content-indeed, it
was grumbling loudly about them
adjectived houses which obstruct
our line of fire." and them muck
Ing engineers who say it would take
a thousand men six months to blow
them houses off the map" Now
this know is a libel on the en-
gineers, who adore demolishing
houses or making any sort of ex-
plosion-like kids with fireworks.
I said so, but no one believed me,
and that's your British Army.
The troops dig and curse the gun
ners who sit in pillboxes. The gun
ners curse the engineers who won't
blow up houses quickly enough. The
engineers doubtless curse the air.
craft or alarms OF air raids which
interrupt their work, because, make
no mistake, the British army is
working in France and is not un-
aware of what may happen.
There came one such air raid
alarm. It was said there were six
German planes-or three planes or
one plane-and the traffic and street
cars halted and the French popula-
ton lounged about its business with