ON GERMAN SOIL

Dominion, Volume 38, Issue 138, 8 March 1945, Page 6

ON GERMAN SOIL

Troops Visited By Mr. Churchill SHELL FOR HITLER (British Official Wireless and Press Assn.) RUGBY, March 6. “Anyone can see that one good strong heave all together will bring the war in Europe to an end,” said Mr. Churchill in a talk to troops oa the Western Front, which he has visited for consultations with the High Command. Addressing men of the Highland Division the Prime Minister said: “I am very proud to come to m eet vou on German soil which our armies have conquered. The Highland Division began with a terrible disaster, but its soul rose again, and those who struck it down have been themselves defeated and see nothing but ruin before them. The name and honour of Scotland have been held high, and the deeds done by this division rank with those of any performed by any equal unit of the British Army. “Now you are engaged in a victorious battle. Your struggle here in the north has enabled great advances tb be made in the south, and very soon the enemy will be driven across the Rhine. Far away on the other side of. Germany the valiant Russians are pressing on. Anyone can see that one good strong heava all together will bring the war in Europe to an end, will beat down tyranny, and open the path to peace and a return to our homelands. ... “We British shall toil so that all the efforts and exertion made in this war shall end in a broader and better world in which our island home and the men from it will always be held in honour, and a world in which. British ideas of decency and fair play will find themselves established over even broader regions. I wish you all good fortune. God bless you all.” Talks with Commanders. A statement issued from No. 10 Downing Street, says: “During the weekend the Prime Minister, accompanied by the Chief of the General Staff and General Sir Hastings Ismay visited the Supreme Allied Commander, General Eisenhower, and Field-Marshal. Montgomery at their headquarters to discuss with them and other Allied commanders a wide field, of military matters. He also visited British and Canadian troops of the First Canadian Army, and units of the Ninth United States Army taking part in the advance to the Rhine. A considerable part of the i tour was on German territory. Mr. Churchill has now returned to London.’ A correspondent reports that Mr. Churchill’s visit was. regarded with special significance, coming as it did the. day ater the gathering of generals at FieldMarshal Montgomery’s headquarters. After a flight of 90 minutes from England he was greeted at the airport by Major-General Sir Frederick de Guingand, Chief of Staff to Field-Marshal Montgomery/ and by Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham. Mrs.. Churchill accompanied the Prime Minister. Mr. Churchill crossed the German frontier at Vaals, just.west of Aachen, where he got out of his car to. look, at the “dragon’s teeth” of the Siegfried Line. He proceeded across, the Roer to the wrecked town of Julich. A Bumpy Passage.

Mr. and Mrs. Churchill were an hour late in arriving at the operational aerodrome in Holland on Friday afternoon, because of a bumpy passage and two. hailstorms. A hail-storm swept the airfield while Field-Marshal Montgomery waited for them, anxiously scanning the sky. Junior Commander Mary Churchill, who is now with a mixed anti-aircraft battery in Belgium, was at the aerodrome to greet her parents. _ On his arrival Mr. Churchill said he had come to see the British and American armies engaged in the present Before entering a staff car, he said to FieldMarshal Montgomery: “I’m under your orders now.” It took considerable argument from General Simpson, who guided Mr. Churchill on the battlefront tour,, to keep the Prime Minister from visiting the Rhine at Dusseldorf. . “If they are shooting you can put me in a tank and I will be all right,” Mr. Churchill said. But General Simpson declined the suggestion. i , Looking around the rums of J alien without visible displeasure, Mr. Churchill said grimly: “There won’t be any unemployment around here after the war. He chalked on a 240-millimetre shell: “To Hitler —personally,” and then fired a sun and sent the shell against one of the main. German escape routes across the Rhine.