THE MAGINOT LINE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 June 1939, Page 7

THE MAGINOT LINE

FRENCH DEFENCE PREPARATIONS > VIVIDLY DEPICTED IN FILM. Just how fortunate New Zealand is in its isolation, is clearly depicted in a “March of Time” film previewed privately at the State Theatre yesterday afternoon by a “Times-Age” representative in company with some local military officers. And just how haphazard our national defence system is, in spite of recent rapid developments, was just as clearly illustrated by comparison with the wonderful military machine of modern France. These “March of Time” films review world affairs in a wonderfully interesting and vivid manner. In the present film the efficiency of French national defence is graphically portrayed with particular emphasis laid on the importance of the Maginot Line, that amazing line of defence from possible German aggression. Outwardly the Maginot Line appears merely as a series of concrete 'hemispherical gun emplacements set close together along 150 miles of frontier amid the sylvan peace of the French countryside. But far below that quiet earth, 250,000 men can live and fight for a whole year buried like moles in massive dungeon fortifications. The effectiveness of the French system of national conscription is stressed, too, in this film. Conscription is over a century old in France. Service for two years with the colours is merely the price of citizenship to the young men of the Republic. The film suggests that they find it but a small price to pay for their heritage.