‘FIRM CONFIDENCE’

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20129, 26 December 1939, Page 14

‘FIRM CONFIDENCE’

ALLIED ARMY HEADS CERTAINTY OF VICTORY MAGINOT LINE VISIT MR. FRASER’S EXPERIENCE (Pur Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. His visit to the Maginot Line was described by the Minister of Education and Health, the Hon. P. Fraser, on his return to Wellington yesterday. He described how the Dominion Ministers and their military advisers met Marshal Gamelin, the supreme commander of the Allied armies, at his headquarters and heard his views on the military situation. They were also received in a most courteous and friendly fashion by M. Daladier, the French Premier. Mr. Fraser brought back as an interesting memento of his visit a menu of a luncheon held some hundreds of feet underground in the heart of the French labyrinth of fortresses. “What we were able to see seemed to us to be ample proof of the impregnability of the Maginot Line,” said Mr. Fraser. "The efficiency and confidence of Marshal Gamelin, his staff and the commanding officers we met in the Maginot Line were very impressive. They had no doubt as to the ultimate military result and can give very substantial reasons for thenbelief in the certainty of a conclusive Allied victory. This firm confidence seems to permeate the whole of the Franeh ranks, and, indeed, of the population.”

Mr. Fraser said that after meeting the British military leaders he was of the opinion that never was the British Army under a more capable and efficient command. That opinion was also true of the commanding officers of the Navy and the Air Force with whom he came into contact.