Evening star., 1941-01-06

L N
though nothing William McGaffin.
had happened.
There, in the contrast between
Latin emotion and British phlegm
lies part of the story of the French
defeat.
In fairness to the French it should
be emphasized that their morale
was pretty good throughout the en-
tire "phony war" period. I know,
because I watched it.
The stenograp piers reaction, how
ever, was typical of how they all
blew up when the Germans pierced
the extension of the Maginot Line
that vaunted defense works they
had been taught was ''impregnable." >"
One of the first indications 1 had
that military morale was cracking
was that May day when a grimy
road-Stained soldier slipped in the
back door of my apartment and
asked for Yvonne, the maid. 1t was
Albert, her husband.
Deserted With 5000 Others.
He had deserted along with some
5000 other tank corps men and
fed to Paris after a disastrous en-
counter with the Germans at
Namur. Belgium.
They told us the BelgianS were
up there holding the line" he said.
when we got there there was no
one but Germans"
~ YNrnCSn6 r
lessly on, the panic spread to the
civilian population. Even Josette,
who kept the little biStro below the
office, managed to find a seat in
one of the long string of mattress
topped cars that clogged the SOUTH
bound highways so that they were
often unusable for swift military
transport.
1t was not the fault of the French
people. They had been led by their
press and politicians to believe they
were sitting pretty behind the tough
Maginot Line. When the break
came bewilderment and Illustration
were the natural consequences.
The British have profted from
| this French mistake. British news
papers and politicians constantly
take the opposite tack, warning
against overconfidence and un-
founded optimism.
Nor will British roads be clogged
with refugees if England ever is in
vaded. The high command has is
sued rigid orders which it is pre-
pared to carry out ruthlessly forcing
every one to stay put wherever he
may be.
Many of the French were machine
gunned and bombed on the roads.
The British understand they will
not only be helping their soldiers,
but they actually will be safer stay
ing in their homes if the emer-
gency arises.
In further keeping with this
idea the British have refused to de-
clare any of their cities open cities
as the French did. In other words
they will not surrender any one of
them without a fight. Mr.. Churchill
said London would be defended
street by stree" and the British
say that goes for every town.
BlitzkrIeg a Boomerang.
In many respects the German
blitzkrieg has proved a boomerang.
Drawing on their observations in
France, British officers have taught
their people that the thing most to
be feared from dive bomber is
fear itself, rather than death.
Dive bombers caused surprisingly
small civilian casualties in France.
To a certain extent that goes for
ordinary bombing. Englishmen have
learned how to restrain their fears
and stand up to night after night
of aerial punishment.
The British Army has done bet
ter than this. 1t has borrowed the
Germans own methods with appar-
ent success in the British blitz
against Germany's italian ally in
the Mediterranean.
Parachute troops were a menace
with which the French were made
quately prepared to cope They
hastily improvised shotgun army
at the 18th hour. The British have
had time to perfect an elaborate
home guard organization. Join the
home guard and guard your home"
is its slogan. That Is exactly what
1t is intended to do.
Like the American National
Guard the British home guard is
composed of the butcher, the baker
and the candlestick maker who work
at their regular jobs in the daytime
and devote spare hours in the eve
ming to military drill. They are on
constant call in their own and
neighboring towns. They are armed
with secondhand American equip
ment-single loading rifles and
Browning machine guns.
Although this is admittedly light
equipment, it is thought capable of
the job it would have to do-that is,
backing up the regular army, with
its more powerful weapons.
Parachutists Provoked Fear.
Parachutists themselves, however,
were not so great a menace in
France as the fear they provoked
among the population. I remember
one day when the Paris police were
flooded with warnings" that para
chutists were descending on the city.
One woman sWore she could see a
mans legs dangling in front of her
window. One man ran to his win
dow and emptied his revolver into
space. A weather balloon had broken
and f1oated across town.
The Germans encouraged these
scares. They went even further with
the British. They dropped empty
parachutes, cases of maps and other
paraphernalia in an effort to con-
vince John Bull that f1ocks of para
chute troops were being landed.
John was not taken in. He picked
up the phony props and put them
IN q GLASS case where all co,lld see-