Imperial Valley press., 1941-03-25
NeWsman Describes
Hell That Awaits
German Invaders
BY JOE ALEX MORRIS -
Copyright, 1941, BY United Press

copyright, 1871, BY United Press
The young British army colonel
stopped abruptly on hillside over
looking the English channel and
pointed down to the beach.
when he ORDERS an INVASION"
the colonel remarked casually with
out mentioning Hitler's name, Il
shouldn't be surprised if they come
in here"
Below us lay a quiet, sunny beach
from which green hills typical Of
the south coast of England stretch
back into a countryside that seems
far from the chaos of war Along
the roads were occasional tank
barriers and on the beach three
tough, springy rolls of barbed wire.
Here, it seemed likely, Britain
might soon face one of the most
desperate struggles in empire his
tory.
But, I asked, aren't you doing
anything about it? You can't ex-
pect to stop the Germans with
barbed wire
The colonel pointed again. See
that?' he asked, but l could see
only the normal countryside. We'll,
that's a fully manned battery. Look
closely. You can see the men moving
about . and see that?" he pointed
again. That's a blockhouse :. and
there's another and another.
There is tank trap. You don't
see it until you're over the dune
and then you're in it . that bus
mess there is tc keep you from
stumbling on a land mine And in
that direction is a battery of really
big guns that likes to have its tar
get further out on the water than
you can see
AS I studied the places he pointed
out | began to see some OF the men
on guard against invasion every
hour OF the day and night But
I asked, where is the control point
or this sector: where is the field
headquarters from which you would
direct a battle?"
The colonel smiled and taking
hold of my arm, led me forward
three steps. step carefully" he
said, We're practically in it, We
were III a dugout headquarters hid
den from enemy eyes by camouflage
that employed everything from
heather to chicken feathers. From
the concealed and strongly protect
ed chamber, telephone lines and
observation posts covered every foot
of the coastal sector.
Military experts TO whom l talked,
including men directly responsible
for protection Of the most acute
danger areas, believe that the Ger
mans can and will land on English
soil. They may be able to land in
large numbers. But as I inspected
the defense preparations-some of
them closely guarded military Sc
crets-I began to understand why
the British are confident that an
invasion would be a disaster for
Hitler.
Before going to the coastal mill
tary area I signed a promise to
submit anything I wrote to censor
ship. When my notes came back
from the censor there were many
paragraphs buried under blue pencil
marks, but this was left:
Months Of ceaseless work and
careful planning and ingenious mil
itary experimentation have created
a barrier more formidable than
any soldiers of the past ever faced
or possibly ever imagined. The men
who invade England today must
pass through a hell fire as literal
as can be devised by military
"Barbed wire waits to trap the
enemy into an easy target position,
Mines may lie under his feet at
the next step. Huge tank traps are
beyond the sand dunes. Forts have
the ordinary defenses and to be
expected. They are only part of the
dangers that an invader must face.
(Here a paragraph was deleted)
We walked down a winding path to
the beach. Men were hard at work
here including engineers who are
still experimenting with beach de-
fenses. Block houses are concealed
on the beach, placed SO that their
fire crosses at vital points. The
barbed wire is in rolls, piled in pyr-
amid fashion and firmly anchored.
The dunes behind are death traps
for tanks or infantry. An enemy
stepping on this beach would walk
into a solid wall of fire, shrapnel,
machine gun bullets and high eX-
plosiyes.