FRENCH AND BRITISH

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21157, 5 July 1940, Page 5

FRENCH AND BRITISH

GAY SCENE AT ALEXANDRIA A NOTABLE INCIDENT Writing to the London Daily Herald from Alexandria some weeks ago, Mr Ronald Matthews, correspondent with the forces in the Middle East, described a notable naval incident. He said:— A white-gloved halberdier and a guard of marines sprang to attention on the quarter-deck of a French battleship here today as a bugle rang out the famous French call, | “ Aux Champs.” A white uniformed i figure with a double row of gilt oakleaves on his cap mounted the deck. He saluted and shook hands with a similar shorter figure with a broad gold band round his cap. The Commander-in-Chief of the British Mediterranean forces was paying a formal call on the French Admiral whose forces are serving under him. While the British Admiral was be- j ing treated below to a “vin d’honneur,” there was a less formal, party : going on for’ard. Picnic For Ships' Cooks The ships’ cooks, their mid-day | | work completed, were picnicking on i the deck off mutton and beans. They I ate their meal on unturned baskets, I washing it down with pinard, an or- j dinary wine which is an “issue” to | the French forces. It is early days yet for much : fraternising, but last night the Fleet ; Club, an institution run for the j British Navy, was packed with the , red-bobbed caps and the blue and j white jerseys of the French Navy. I joined in the chorus of a famous French 18th century sea chanty. Its concluding lines are a malediction on the “Roi d’Angleterre, qui nous a declare la guerre,” but they were politely turned into a corresponding defiance of Hitler. Side by Side in Shops In the shops the men of the two Fleets were seen side by side buying “ancient Egyptian scarabs” (made in Birmingham), native slippers in orange-coloured leather, fly whisks, and even tarbooshes. The Allied Fleet, however, is not here for fun. Reinforcements were arriving today and more are expected. If you were to look at one of those staff naval maps, where coloured paper flags represent the various units of different nations, you would soon realise that the force here is equal to if not better than any it can be called to meet in this region. British officers who have met units of the Italian fleet in recent years do not make the mistake of looking down on it. An Unsettled Question They say that the ships are far better kept than formerly, and Italian efficiency seems high. Officers and men, they admit, are capable of brilliant acts and individual daring. But whether they would be able to stand the strain of a full-scale ! naval war is a question which has j yet to be proved. j The British are not bellicose, but j more than one confessed to me that they would be, for purely professional reasons, of course, interested I to see the question settled. This att-i—----1 tude of confident, scientific detachment is poles removed from the rant-

ings of the Fascist press. And the towering grey ships are ready to put to sea at almost a moment’s notice.