Onslaught Awaited

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 306, 28 December 1939, Page 10

Onslaught Awaited

BRITONS DIG IN ON WESTERN FRONT Shakespeare should report this “war”, an observer on the Western [Front, because no lesser writer could .do justice to its ever-present farcical character and comedy, and its terrific atmosphere of impending tragedy, .which may be delayed for months and may even not occur. “Only three months ago,” the observer says, "I talked with Polish youngsters, and then it was ‘if and when and what,’ but if Hitler launches an offensive to-morrow, Britons will meet a more savage onslaught than their fathers faced at Mons. “I say fathers advisedly, because I drove here with a Royal Air Force boy who asked quietly, ‘Would you mind stopping at this cemetery?’ I said: ‘lf you are interested in cemeteries there is a bigger one farther on.’ He answered: ‘My dad was killed here in 1918. I have never seen his grave. I always lived in Australia before I served in Singapore. I won’t keep you long. I know the number and line of the grave.’ “There were small headstones, and the French had laid flowers on all the English graves because it was All Saints’ Day, which the French call the ‘Festival of the Dead.’ “Fortunately, the young British troops do not consider evil omens. They dig hard in the mud, curse it loud and deep, but go on digging.” General Duvald, Military Critic of the Journal des Debats, says he believes that the German army has taken up winter quarters, and is unlikely to undertake any large-scale offensive till the spring. "I am inclined to say that Germany’s military preparations are less advanced than we thought,” he said. “Germany must have bluffed a great deal. Unfortunately, she has taken our declaration as a bluff, too. "The German army is endeavouring to improve its condition, while Hitler does not despair of conquering us by propaganda. Let us not abuse the slogan that time is on our side. Time will only work for us if we work for ourselves.”