New Zealand Troops Roused to Stand-to

Manawatu Times, Volume 65, Issue 259, 1 November 1940, Page 8

New Zealand Troops Roused to Stand-to

EARLY MORNING ALARM LONDON, Oct. 29. Roused from their bunks at three o’clock one morning last week by the order to stand to ready to move, the men of the second echelon thought they were at last beginning the war. In seven minutes, all hands at one billet were up and dressed and had their kits packed. There had been more than usually heavy anti-aircraft gunfire the previous evening, and the morning was dark and misty. It seemed likely that it was the real thing for which the men had been waiting. By dawn, the fighting units, breakfast over, had their vehicles loaded and were marshalled ready to t3ke the road. The Army Service Corps, with a bigger packing job and cumbersome marquees to strike in the dark, forwent breakfast to be sure to be ready in time. There was a spirit of eagerness apparent everywhere, and the excitement was higher than at any time since the men’s first week in the forward area, when aerial dogfights and the spectacle of falling German aeroplanes were new to them, but, when daylight came to the Straits of Dover, there were no invaders or wcul’-be invaders on this side. The stand-to had been a practice move, although only the commander knew that, and presently the order was received to stand down and carry on , ■ normal training. Once more the men’s eagerness was disappointed, and now, as autumn gives way to winter and the formerly pleasant woodland pathways are choked with sodden leaves, the lot of the army in the Battle of Britain Is still to watch and wait. It is more dangerous by far to be a London civilian than a soldier holding the coast.