FIFTH COLUMN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 31 May 1941, Page 6

FIFTH COLUMN

SURE TO BE POUNCED ON IN BRITAIN IN EVENT OF INVASION ATTEMPT. OUTCOME OF EXPERIMENTAL EXERCISES. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11.48 a.m.) RUGBY, May 30. The speed and efficiency with which British defending forces will pounce on Fifth Columnists during any invasion attempt are well described in an agency account of exercises carried out “somewhere in England.” Six “Fifth Columnists” of the “German” force taking part in the exercises were all specially trained soldiers, fully alive to the dangers peculiar to their duties. Three operated in uniform and three in civilian clothes. The leader, a sergeant, met with an unhappy fate early. Faulty information led him to the wrong headquarters and he was “written off.” Two other uniformed Fifth Columnists, ranging the countryside on powerful motorcycles, were spotted by their own troops and shot up before they could establish their identity. Three civilians went on their way for a long time. One —an ice cream merchant—was naturally welcome wherever he went. The invitation on the front, of his barrow: “Stop me,” was readily complied with. Much useful information went from him to the “German” headquarters. The other two civilians operated quietly among the British forces and passed back useful information to headquarters. As an outcome of the exercises, the opinion is held that the Germans would never be able to use the Fifth Column in Britain as they did in France and Belgium .