OUTPOST WORK

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 73, 27 March 1940, Page 16

OUTPOST WORK

FORCES IN FRANCE

NEW KNOWLEDGE GAINED

The recent award of two Military Crosses and one Military Medal for gallantry tells a tale of the dangers facing the men of the B.E.F. in their untiring watch on the German frontier, wrote the special correspondent of "The Times" from the Western Front on February 4. Although in contact with a formidable foe, they have learnt to match his cunning with theirs, and to back cunning by force wherever possible. They are learning their trade in the worst possible conditions. For five weeks after Christmas icy winds beat the earth of the border country to iron. Frost hel' the soil to a depth of two feet. Lately the weather has been more capricious, and warmer temperatures have brought intermittent rain which nevertheless turns to ice the moment it touches the ground. In the outpost area the troops have^ had a stern and bitter time, but they, have learnt through suffering. A sergeant of the Royal Welch Fusiliers remarked the other day that the "babies" who went oat to man the outposts returned as grown men. All officers agree that the soldiers who have made contact with the enemy have profited from the experience. They have gleaned some knowledge of the foe against whom they are fighting; his discipline, his attention to detail, and his braveryTECHNIQUE OF PATROLS. After two nights in No Man's Land the British soldier comes to realise that the German commands have made a profound study of the technique of patrolling, and that they have impressed their knowledge deeply on their men. Their conclusions have been revised daily in the light of practical experience since early September, when the' first German left his lines to explore the mysterious land beyond. Every patrol is accompanied by men with an exact knowledge of the terrain, and some reconnaissance parties have covered extraordinary distances without light to guide them. They enter villages by unfrequented cart tracks, or by creeping along drains and under culverts. They prowl in the shadows, shoot, and disappear. There is one art which the German patrols have mastered to a perfection that seems unnecessary to troops of a line regiment entering the outpost area for the first time. That is the art of avoiding'noise. Even during the bitter spell which began at Christmas, when the most wary could hardly take ten paces without stumbling and slithering on the frozen snow, they were able to move with the silence of the shadows. They appeared all round the outposts; at one moment in front of them, at the next behind them. It is a matter of some congratulation that the men of the B.E.F. are able to hold their own against these experienced craftsmen and inflict as many casualties as they receive. INFLUENCE OF LUCK. The outcome of night clashes is often determined more by luck than by management. Disappointments are frequent. A few nights ago a British major crouched motionless in an orchard, waiting to ambush an unwary patrol. His hands were encased in a pair of woollen gloves and several pairs of mittens, while on his feet he wore three pairs of socks, rubber boots, and on top of that sandbags filled with straw. The darkness played strange tricks on hh as he lay there fingering the trigger of his rifle. Trees moved and boulders crept bent double across the snow. After a six-hour vigil the cold overcame him and he returned to his lines, tired, numbed, and disappointed. Next morning the major was an exceedingly angry man. He learnt that a British machine-gun, which was working to a time schedule away on the left of his ambush, had opened fire on a wood an hour after he had left his position. The burst had startled a group of Germans, who had bolted down a slope and gone to cover in the very orchard where the major had awaited them so long. If his strength had held out longer he would have been certain of his prey. A trifling alteration in the chain of circumstances must have brought success instead of failure. VALUABLE LESSONS. The French High Command keeps German technique under close and constant examination. Five months of experience have taught valuable lessons in patrol methods. To the casual visitor to the front, the bursts of isolated shells and the intermittent firing of machine-guns appear to be as casual as his own presence on the battlefield, but when such phenomena are examined they probably have their meaning.

Five months of constant practice have taught the French much that was unknown before of offensive and defensive methods, and the British troops, as they arrive at the front, rapidly absorb the new lessons. Little may be said on the subject, since the need of maintaining the strictest secrecy imposes a ban on the discussion of tactical dispositions and methods. The Germans must work for their knowledge of our technique, and must be kept in constant doubt as to how many of their tricks we have discovered and have learnt to counter. But it has emerged clearly from the activity of the past few mqnths that Allied ingenuity has not only kept pace with that o fthe enemy but that it has in many respects surpassed it.

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