STILL MOVING UP

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 48, Issue 2865, 20 November 1939, Page 7

STILL MOVING UP

BRITISH FORCES IN FRANCE SECRET CONCENTRATION The British Expeditionary Force in France is still in the state of movingup to its positions and concentrating its forces preparatory .to going into action, reported “Eye-witness” to the London “Daily Telegraph” on September 27.

At present no hint of the whereabouts of the troops can be given. “Somewhere in France” is the most exact geographical description allowed. Every measure must be taken to safeguard secrets from the enemy. It is realised that anything written from here may be closely examined in Berlin in the hope of finding some clue. For this reason the British soldiers may send no picture postcards home. Similarly letters and dispatches home must be worded with extreme care. Dangerous Topics The weather, any description of landscape or local customs are liable to be dangerous topics. Along the straight, tree-bordered roads of France there are the minimum of special British Army signposts. Lorry drivers are left to find their own. .way with the aid of a special sort of A.A. guide and the ordinary French signposts. But not many of them are likely to lose their way, for the Army traffic moves, along in a procession that is practically continuous. Heavy lorries, with the special camouflage consisting of green and yellow rags tied on to nets, alternate with smart new private cars used by official ranks.

Many of the drivers are getting to know the roads well, and their arms grow tired with waving back at the children. In some of the towns the boys and girls appear to spend the whole day cheering and encouraging the British Army. Dispatch riders are apt to be offered an apple or a peai’ whenever they are held up in traffic, and have to explain in dumb show that they cannot eat at the same time as they ride.

A British officer’s uniform calls forth very touching marks of respect and affection. At the little village inn where I had lunch a tiny child was pushed shly into the room to offer me a magnificent bouquet of flowers. A little further on a whole village turned out to welcome the company which had been billeted on it. . With music playing, the troops made a triumphal entry.

The relations between the British Tommies and their French hosts seem to be everywhere extraordinarily cordial. “You English don’t come as strangers, as in 1914, but as old friends,” my landlady said to me. A new pidgin Anglo-French language

is in process of evolution, though it has not properly crystallised yet. Anglicised pronunciations or distortions of the local place-names are gradually being standardised throughout the Army. a Many of the Tommies are very seri■•ously setting out to learn French — they realise what a commercial asset il may be to them after the war. The French population is commenting on the evolution of British uniforms since the last war. The new battle dress, which makes it difficult to distinguish officers from men, is the object of much interested study, and is apt to confuse French soldiers who want to salute the right people. Some units have already been mistaken for Americans on account of their caps. Curious crowds, eager to see the more resplendent uniforms, station themselves daily outside the buildingin which G.H.Q. is situated, and may be rewarded with a glimpse of some world-famous soldier.