CITIZEN ARMY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20061, 6 October 1939, Page 7

CITIZEN ARMY

SPIRIT OF POILUS CO-ORDINATED ADVANCE HOPES IN AMERICA RETENTION OF LIBERTY (Reed. Oct. 6, 9 a.m.) NEW YORK; Oct. 5. ' Mr. P. J. Phillip, the New York Times’ correspondent with the French armies on the frontier, says:- “The skill of the French in the art of war and the high-hearted courage of these millions of men of all ages and professions has impressed us. “At present it is a matter of little advances into villages and woods of possible strategic importance. But with what extreme cunning these little advances are made. Every detail ancl every move is prefaced and accompanied by artillery fire on a direct target. “The French Army is in a true sense a citizen army with a spirit of fraternity and mutual respect of all ranks. Herr Hitler’s ‘peace offensive’ means nothing here. None are able even to grasp the possibility of acceptance.

“ ‘We have started now,’ said a priest who had doffed his clerical garb for a uniform. ‘We do not want to begin again in a few months’ time.’ “It is pathetic to see and hear the extent to which it is believed and hoped that the United States will-en-ter the war in which France’s only interest is the defence of patrimony and liberty, partly derived from the American war of independence. “As we entered a village hall where the soldiers were entertaining visitors, everybody rose, cheering ‘Les Arrtericains.’ It is not that these people are asking for anything. They just expect that their friends will not leave them in the lurch, especially when they have so outdistanced them in recent years in the denunciation of the evils of Nazism.

“They are more than satisfied that the Maginot Line can defend France. What they want from the United States is encouragement in the firm belief that they are fighting for a just cause.”