ALLIED BARRIER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 November 1939, Page 5

ALLIED BARRIER

DEFENCES OF THE WESTERN FRONT MR ANTHONY EDEN’S SURVEY ! SPLENDID SPIRIT ANIMATING ARMIES,. CIVILISATION IN DEBT TO FRANCE. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY. November 19. The Secretary for the Dominions. Mr Eden, broadcasting tonight in the 8.8.C.’s French language programme, said: "Last week it was my good fortune to accompany to France the Ministers from each of the Dominions overseas and the representative of the Government of India. During the brief period of our stay we were able to visit the troops of our own Expeditionary Force and also spend some time among the French armies in the Maginot Line. “In order to fulfil our programme we

covered hundreds of miles by motorcar and were able to see something of the conditions of life in the back areas behind the line as well as among the troops occupying the forward positions. "For many of us these journeys revived memories of 20 years ago. It is within the framework of these memories that I would wish to set my impressions tonight. QUIET DETERMINATION. "The dominant note wherever we went was one of quiet determination. This applied in equal measure to civilian and soldier, men and women, young and old. There is today perhaps less of the spirit of adventure than there was in the early years of the Great War. There is no demonstration, no fanfare, no flag-waving. This is not surprising for after all our peoples now know from experience what war means. But

there is everywhere a fixity of purpose and the determination that this time we shall make an end of recurrent wars of aggression. No one doubts the final victory, but with it a new page in history must be turned. “In the sector hold by the British troops we found a persistent and infectious cheerfulness which not even the depression weather conditions could subdue. The health of the troops is excellent. Their number is steadily increasing, and this process | will continue. In the meantime, rapid progress is being made in strengthening and deepening the British sector and in perfecting the training and equipment at all points.

IMPREGNABLE DEFENCES. “Further south we had what was for many of us our first view of the famous Maginot defences, manned as they are today by an army which for calm courage, training and efficiency is unsurpassed in the world. ‘France has made great sacrifices, financial and material,- in order to complete the Maginot line. Today free-dom-loving people everywhere acknowledge with deep gratitude the debt which they owe to these impregnable defences and to the army which holds them. “It requires little imagination to picture how different the military outlook for the Allies ..must have been ..had France not persisted with patience and thoroughness to complete her own defences and perfect the training of her armies. Thus, not for the first time in human history. France has placed all civilisation in her debt. MEN WHO KNOW THEIR JOB. “Some vivid pictures are left upon one’s mind. The first is of a young French captain describing the defences of one of the smaller forts for which he was responsible. The smooth and quiet confidence of his account showed a grasp of every detail of the elaborate machinery at his command: and would have done credit to the most experienced chief of staff in any land. "We found these same characteristics in these young French officers wherever we went. Beyond a shadow of doubt they know their job and know it thoroughly. One felt as one watched them at their work and noted their soldierly bearing and the quiet determination of rank and file that it was

not for nothing that those who hold the Maginot line have as their watchword 'On ne passe pas.’ "The second picture is of the forward slope of a Maginot fort. It is early morning and the mist still lies thick on the ground. Peering through it two British soldiers stand on watch. They form part of an advanced post, for special service with their French comrades. They are also the visible expression of the unity of the two Empires who hold the same , faith and cherish the same ideals.”