“BEST IN WORLD”

Hokitika Guardian, 13 July 1940, Page 6

“BEST IN WORLD”

; GUARDS AS. FIGHTERS HEROISM;. AT DUNKIRK LONDON, June 7. - Among the latest troops to arrive in England}. .from .Dunkirk. are. men .of the .Grenadier and Coldstream Guards, who jhave seen some very hard fighting shoulder, to shoulder, writes a ( Da]jly Telegraph reporter. I have been told •in particular of one of the deeds of The Guards. A company stood in line in tile square of a Flanders. tpwn when a German mechanised..column entered* aru;l without deploying drove tlipm ou.t again , by concentrated rifle an,d . ma-chine-gun fire. 4 By the time. German, reinforcements had arrived, the. Guards had covered the orderly withdrawal of all, Allied forces in the area. . “I thought - the Guards . wete just, spit and polish men,’’, said a gunner to me. “Now, I know they are-the best fighters in the world,.’ ’ Later, I am informed, the Guards joined .'Highland troops in, fierce bayonet charges, to clear the, defence, line on the Flanders hills. , A. s large number , of French, troops_in boisterous snirits, landed with the Guards Trains carried the trops off.-to the interior of England through an in-

. exhaustible avenue of Union Jacks and Tricolours, cheering-civilians, and placards inscribed ‘‘Bravo, 8.E.F.,” “Thumbs .Up,” “Thank -You,” “Well done, boys,” and other slogans. .V At. every carriage window a grinning Tommy, Jock or Poilu took, the. bow and, their, wake was. a litter of ice pream. cartons, beer bottles, cigarette ( packets and, playing cards. One ,continually meets cases .of remarkable escapes. There was the Guardsman who after,swimming naked from the shore, appeared in a sailor’s uniform to-day, having been rehabili-

tated in a destroyer. There was the

young naval rating, at sea for the first time, who last night was blown up three times picked up unconscious, and this morning—a little shaken undoubtedly—was taking tea in a rail-

way refreshment room. There is the man who swam for two and a-half hours before he could get into... a boat. There is the .brigadier who became an expert at pushing barges . off- the shore;. The officer: ■who, cut off. bv a German:’ advance,' shot a. ..Germau' Ynotbf-cycli&,'■T seized, his:inachine and : rpa’ched Dunkirk '6a enemy 'fuel. : T ! * ;