BRITISH TROOPS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 October 1939, Page 9

BRITISH TROOPS

LANDING IN PRANCE MATTER-OF-FACT SOLDIERS. NEW ZEALANDER’S STORY. A New Zealander was among the first to see the British troops landing in France. He was Mr Geoffrey Cox, who is on the Paris staff of the "Daily Express,”’ and was a 1932 Rhodes Scholar. It was no affair of flags or flower throwing, he said. The attitude of the men seemed to be: “We’re here to do a job we think worth doing and we don’t want any unnecessary fuss." The French, too, shared this feeling of not wishing for heroics, but the people were moved by the sight of the khaki columns landing on their soil once more. “Out in the grey Channel I saw the dark shapes of the British and French destroyers which had escorted the latest ships to the port," said Mr Cox. “Above floated an observation balloon, scanning the port approaches for submarines. From the coastal forts great guns pointed out to sea, covering the approaches from England. Not a man was lost on this crossing. “Through the gate of their temporary barracks swung a detachment of sappers, shovels on shoulder. Other troops, waiting for trains and lorries crammed the bakers' shops, the wine shops and tobacconists’. Veterans of the last war acted as interpreters, but little interpretation was need. “These men were taken right into French life. I saw infantrymen sitting on doorsteps like the members of any French family, with babies sitting on their knees while hordes of little boys examined their buttons, caps and uniforms. Other sections of these troops were moving steadily to the Western Front. In a village I suddenly came on a camouflaged column drawn up like the German columns I saw entertaining Austria and Czecho-Slova-kia. “In the narrow streets of the old port town the British troops were al • ready completely at home. Infantrymen wearing the new battle-dress, white-belted military police, red hatbanded staff officers carrying canes, sergeants wearing the old style flat forage caps, strolled along and looked at the shop windows. “A lorry packed with newly landed north-countrymen, waving cheerily, went past. Other lorries, filled with supplies, rolled to the station. The port seemed completely taken over by the British. British lorries and ambulances rolled through the streets. Army nurses, with red, white and blue hatbands and with steel helmets slung over their arms, sat in their grey uniforms in the corner of a restaurant eating lunch. “In the other corner a group of officers constituted an informal mess. I noted that almost all of them spokeFrench. The chief immediate concern of these troops is to find some brand of French tobacco which is smokeable. The French are greatly struck by the easy air of confidence of these men and the excellence of their bearing and equipment. “An American military expert who was with me was most impressed with the calibre of this army, which he considers is probably the best fitted out in the world.”