FALSE ALARM

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 17, 31 October 1940, Page 5

FALSE ALARM

NEW ZEALANDERS STAND-TO.

ON COLD MISTY MORNING.

EAGER TO MEET. INVADERS

(From the Official War Correspondent with the N.Z.E.F. in Britain).

(Received This Day, 11.50 a.m.) LONDON, October 29. Roused from their bunks at 3 o’clock one morning last week by an order to stand-to ready to ’move, the men of tho 2nd Echelon thought they w ore at last beginning the war. In seven minutes all hands at one billet were up and dressed, and had their kits packed. There had been more than usually heavy anti-aircraft gunfire on the previous evening and the morning was dark with mist. It seemed likely it was the real thing for which we had been waiting. By dawn the fighting units had had breakfast, had tho vehicles loaded and were marshalled ready to take the road. The Army Service Corps, with a bigger packing-job and cumbersome marquees 1 to strike in the dark forwent their breakfast to be sure of being ready in time. There was a spirit of eagerness apparent everywhere, and excitement was higher than at any time sinco our first week in this forward area, when aerial dogfights and the spectacle of falling (German aeroplanes were now to us, but when daylight came to the Straits of Dover there were qo invaders or would-be invaders on this side. The stand-to had been a practice move, although only the Commander knew that, and presently the order was received to stand-down and carry on with normal training. Once more eagerness was disappointed, and now as autumn gives way to winter and the formerly pleasant woodland pathways are choked with sodden leaves, tho lot of the Army in the battle of Britain is still to watch and wait.

It is more by f.Tr to be a London citizen than a soldier holding the coast.