"FIFTH COLUMNIST"

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 175, 27 July 1942, Page 4

"FIFTH COLUMNIST"

BEATING THE GUARD HE TAUGHT A LESSON There is not much you can "put over" an enthusiastic Home Guardsmen. With static defence as the basis of their operations they number among their many jobs in any emergency, the guarding of vital points, the patrolling of roads and the prevention of fifth column activities* Even commanding officers of units have found that these Guardsmen are not to be bluffed or fooled . . . "Produce your authority, or else . . ." But, the story is now going the rounds of a prominent civil servant in one district, who took an unofficial but prominent part in an '"emergency mobilisation' by a H.G. unit last Sunday. He made himself "Fifth Columnist No. 1" Well kn»wn to all the members by virtue of his public office and the fact that he was a wounded ex-serviceman who was barred from the Guard by his past injuries, he went through the road posts of the unit, handed out forged messages from officers containing confusing orders, and capped off his exploit by handing round a bag of apples among a group of guardsmen, who were stopping all cars and examining them. In the bottom of the bag, undiscovered, was an old Mills bomb. He taught the guardsmen a useful lesson. As he pointed out, to be a successful Fifth Columnist a man would have to be well known in his district. Moral—Don't trust anyone!