ON THE RHINE

Hokitika Guardian, 21 August 1929, Page 8

ON THE RHINE

ARMY’S PLEASANT JOB. (By Sir Percival Phillips in the “Daily Mail.”) WIESBADEN, July 4. . Thomas Atkins thinks well of soldiering on the Rhine. Speaking through the medium of a lad ih the Dorsets, whom 1 found taking the air ,on a high hill in the Taunus, he said, in sections: “Yes, it’s not so bad. . Rather a ‘cushy’ job, but a bit dull at times, especially in the country. We get on well with the people. Jerry’s all right. Civil enough and. minds his own business, Y'es, I’d rather stay on the Rhine.” . Now that he is headed for home, Atkins is inclined to forget the drawbacks of life here, and to rqmember that Catterick or Aldershot will lack many of its advantages. Atkins is well housed and fed, his amusements and his education are well looked after, and he. has surroundings which in point of beauty and health-giving qualities are not to be surpassed by any other British depot. Either he is quartered in Wiesbaden, which is a pleasant, very decorous watering-place, or in one of four other military centres situated in the picturesque Taunus hills, the furthest being less than 20 miles from the city. ARMY’S SPORTS GROUND. Wiesbaden mourns over the , prosperity of pre-war days, when the garrison was one of the smartest in Germany, and the Kurhaus a rendezvous for ailing but affluent aristocrats.

In one quarter recalling bits of Surbiton are a group of re-chistcned barracks where live the Ist Prince of Wales’s Volunteers and the 2nd Royal Ifusilters. That fine stono mansion which might be the home of a millionaire, is the officers mess of the former regiment. i Facing these; buildings' on the opposite side of the street is the so-called ‘Stadium” the principal sports ground of the Army, with its three cricket pitches, officer’s tennis courts, running track, and horse jumps; nearby are streets of stucco-fronted houses where live '-the families ojf officers, warrant officers and sergeans, the whole forming a kind of little British island entirely surrounded by Germans.

COUNTRY HOUSE BARRACKS. Drive to Bicberich, a suburb of Greater Wiesbaden, and there, in an imposing structure built in 1914 as an /officer’s cadet school, wile, the 2nd Royal Welch Fusiliers, living excellently on a slope aboye the river. The gunners are found, appropriately enough, at Shapnel Barracks nearby. Drop down to romantic' Bingen on the Rhine and see the 2nd Hampsliires set in a picture that makes - the thought of Catterick seem like a bad ’dream. Motor (fifteen miles out of Wiesbaden in the other direction, through rolling farmland and forest, climb around and above a village of steep roofs and old-fashioned lroiits arid on summit of a windswept hill you will arrive at the spotless white barracks—like a gigantic country rouse—of the 2nd Dorsets.

It is like a watach-tower, looking out in every direction for miles over the panorama of the Taunus. No site could be more beautiful. Nor have the 2nd Leiccsters reason for resenting their lodgment at Konigstein. This is another summer resort, some 15 miles from Wiesbaden, also known as “the Brighton of Frank fort”: Givenchy barracks was once a sanatorium. • ;

Life in those out-stations is brightened by cinema .shows, concerts and other simple amusements. Wiesbaden of course, is better equipped with distractions for the soldier off duty. Two attractions which will lie raised in England are the opera and the river bathing beaches. Special blocks of. seats are reserved for the troops for every porfomance, at the Wiesbaden Opera House.

BATHING BEACH DAYS. Atkins can spend his off time swimming in the Rhine or sunning himself on the strand at Bieberich or Schierstein, two popular feiiced-off resorts for German civilians. For -Is 2d lie can travell ’by motor-omnibus from Wiesbaden (in 25 minutes), be ferried over the Rhine in a motor-boat, and be admitted to the bathing beach. Family parties spend the day there, and British picnics are a popular institution.

Tire Rhine Amusements organisation, run a hall called Valhalla,' whore good British films are shown nighty and , dances are given several times a week.

Atkins can patronise any German cafe not reserved for other ranks and drink beer until 11.30 p.m. He :s admitted to the Kurhaus Poiy fid instead of Is., on ordinary nights and for Is to see the fortnightly fireworks an illuminations. The fine gardens are at his dispoal, and lie can go boat" ing on the lake The summer sports season is in full swing. Tennis tournaments, cricket matches between teams ir. ,l U' and ‘‘ C” leagues, races and other eompeti* tions will be held The annual horse show is hooked for mid-July FEW GERMAN Wil’ ES. .The officers are able t<s a t-ferul Ihe Frankfort races in inniti, of course.