WOULD FAIL

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 127, 31 May 1941, Page 10

WOULD FAIL

"FIFTH COLUMN" WORK

DANGERS IN BRITAIN SHOWN

UNHAPPY FATE IN ARMY EXERCISES

(Rec. 2 p.m.) RUGBY, May 30. The speed and efficiency with which the British defending forces will pounce on "fifth columnists" during any invasion attempt are well described in a news agency account of exercises carried out "somewhere in England." Six "fifth columnists" of a "German" force which took part in the exercises were all specially trained soldiers, fully alive to the dangers peculiar to their duties. Three of them operated in uniform and three in civilian clothes. The leader, a sergeant, met with an unhappy fate early in the exercises. Faulty information led him to the wrong headquarters and he was "written off."' Two other uniformed "fifth columnists" who were ranging the countryside on powerful motorcycles were spotted by their own troops and shot up before their identity could be established. Three of the civilians were 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 their headquarters. Another "fifth columnist" who operated as a soldier on leave in the area from another corps had a run for his "life" when he was being taken in by a sentry for interrogation. As the outcome of the exercises, the opinion is held that the Germans would never be able to use the.ir "fifth column" in Britain as in France and Belgium.—B.O.W.