Evening star., 1939-11-09
Unexpected Meetings
Occur With British
Army in France :,
Younger Officers Smile
At "reminiscences
Of World War Days
BY SIR PHILIP GIBBS,
British War Correspondent.

WITH THE BRITISH FORCES
IN FRANCE, Nov. 9.-One has unex-
pected meetings ou+ here with the
British army in France which are
rather amusing and seem to belong
to the long arm of coincidence. I
stopped at divisional headquarters
on my way to see one of our men
in the line and was shown into
a room where two generals were in
conference. An officer with crossed
swords on his shoulder straps still
inspires me with awe and a certain
timidity in the presence of one who
has the lives of many men under his
charge.
But in this case was put at my
ease. One of these generals was the
brother of a man who lives in the
same Surrey village as myself, and
the other surprised me by asking
after my gunner brother, whom he
knew in the last war.
At battalion headquarters was an
officer whom had met during the
battle of Arras in 1917, but as we
talked I noticed that one of the
younger officers had smile at these
ancient "reminiscences as though
listening to the tale of his grand
father. Any references to the last
war seemed as remote mystery to
the young men who are preparing
for this one as the Napoleonic cam
paign. But these children are very
methods, and new ideas, and new
weapons, and today I have been
entertained in their forward posi-
ton.
Gum Boots Handy.
At times 1 thought I should have
to swim to these positions deep in
slush, and one track along which We
went to seek a mysterious outpost
called "Machan," which is the In
dian name for place in which a
hunter lies in wait for his tiger, was
literally inches in mud and water.
I thanked my stars that 1 wore
pair of gum boots. There the officer
who led me to the blockhouses showed
me tank traps and machine gun
posts. He was a young Scot who
seemed to think it all very good be-
cause he and the battalion, also
Scots, were doing excellent work in
strengthening and developing de-
fensive line, which in his belief
would make the Germans thoughtful
should they advance this way
But he confided to me later in the
afternoon that he did not believe in
the faintest possibility of any Ger
man advance in this direction, being
firmly persuaded that they would
not attack at all on the west. but
would drive through Southeastern
Europe. sharing the spoils with the
Russian Bear. 1t was pity he
thought that he could not have one
little battle of a light and gentle
manly nature to test out the work
they had been doing.
In this part of the line we are in
close liaison with the French. In
fact, the blockhouse defense is in
te-mingled l had a talk with some
of the French anti-tank and ma
chine gunners, one or two at his
post.
How do you get on with the
Scots?" I asked them.
"Famously," said a sergeant 1--WE
speak with signs and understand
each other perfectly. They are good
comrades
Find Germans Annoying.
We prefer some of our ideas re-
garding blockhouse defense to those
of the French system, but admitted
there was something to be said on
both sides. Those French gunners
all come from the north and were
very good types. being sturdy, thick
set fellows, with the usual intelli-
gence and good humor. The SER
geant was 4 years old when the last
war began. He remembered his
papa saying good-by.' Now the
other day papa said good-by to
him"
THE Germans" he said "are very
annoying because they make a war
for each generation, but this time
they are against the Maginot Line
and make such mess"