LIKE A BATTLE FLEET

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 October 1939, Page 7

LIKE A BATTLE FLEET

“We were shown one of the fortresses of the Maginot Line. What we had imagined fell far short of what we saw. Imagine a battle fleet with all the intricate machinery, supplies for a long voyage and equipment for its self-support, sunk in the ground with only steel and concrete turrets showing, so forged and tested that no shell or bomb yet made could destroy them even by a direct hit. “The fortress we visited was one kind of battle-cruiser in an entire fleet from capital ships and cruisers to destroyers and little gunboats. There are even the equivalent of submarines in a system of defensive mines which can be touched off from the commander’s bridge. The commanding officer said that no conceivable attack could penetrate this line. It would be suicide to attempt it.

“We were entertained in the officers’ mess with a heartiness and good humour that one rarely finds. The officers, who are chiefly reserves, admitted quite frankly that they are enjoying themselves. They have their own ideas as to whether it is going to be a major war or not. All are intrigued at the consideration Fritz is showing them while torpedoing British and neutral ships. The same spirit is found among the men. ' CONFIDENCE IN OUTCOME “It is not going to be a comfortable winter, but wherever we went we found laughter and good humour and a most astonishing confidence in the outcome of the war. When it begins it will prove that Herr Hitler with 50 to 55 active divisions, and the country far from solidly behind him is no match for a free people. No one doubts that when the Fuehrer decides to attack it will be launched like an avalanche, but there is plenty of

ground for the belief that it can be broken.

“The British and French pilots have more than held their own. There has been an average of five or six fights daily. The French are flying American machines which have out speeded and out manoeuvred the Messerschmitts. The French artillery has proved its worth, and their tanks and their defence against tanks have shown that any rush from a mechanised army can be parried. “Meantime, the order along the front is to be prudent and calm and avoid wasting lives.”