FRANCE AT WAR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 October 1939, Page 5

FRANCE AT WAR

HIGHHEARTED COURAGE & SKILL AMERICAN CORRESPONDENT IMPRESSED. FAITH IN UNITED STATES. By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright NEW YORK, October 4. Mr P. J. Philip, the “New York Times” correspondent with the French armies in a dispatch -from the frontier says: “The skill of the French in the art of war and the high-hearted courage of these miHimis of men of all ages and professions lias impressed us. At present it is a matter of little advances into villages and woods of possible strategic importance; but with what extreme cunning these little advances are made- Every detail and every move is prefaced and accompanied by artillery fire on a direct target.

“The French army is in the (rue sense a citizen army with a spirit of fraternity and mutual respect in all ranks. Herr Hitler’s peace offensive 'means nothing here. None are able even to grasp the possibility of its acceptance. ‘We have started now,’ said a priest who has doffed his clerical garb for a uniform. ‘We do not want to begin again in a few months’ time.’ “It is pathetic to see and hear the extent to which it is believed and hoped the United States will enter the war, in which France’s only interest is the defence of a patrimony and liberty partly derived from the American War of Independence. As we entered a village hall where soldiers were entertaining visitors everybody rose, cheering ‘Les Americains.’ “it is not that these people are asking for anything. They just expect that their friends will not leave them in the lurch, especially when they have so much outdistanced them in recent years in denunciation of the evils of Nazism. They are more than satisfied that the Maginot Line can defend France. What they want from the United States is encouragement in the firm belief that they are fighting in a j just cause.” I