The
fi'ar
Illztstrdtetl
October
2lst,
1939
Ylttinqt
(nr,+tu
mr!
I,llqAfi^rrln
Dinh+
BY THE
EDITOR
f
usr
been
listening
to
Winston
Churchili's
I
broadcast-masterly
!
No
overstate-
J
ment;
clear,
concise,
penetrating.
His
slightinclination
to
raise
his
voice
at
the
end
of
a
sentence,
rather
in
the
"
Methody
"
manner,
isof
small
account
weighed against
the
fine
serious-
ness
of
his toneand
the
simple
effective'ness
of
his
words.
Contrasted
with
themouthings,bellowingsand
general
beastli-ness
of
a
speech
byHitler,
Goering,
orGoebbels,
it
maLes
oneproud
to
be
Britishwhen
listening
to
ri(/inston
Churchill.
+.+
The
B.B.C.
shows
smallsign
of
improving.
Its
dud
programmes
have
led
to
u
great
falling-of
in
listening.
I
hear
on
all
hands
fromfriends
and
acquaintances
that
they
have
practicallystopped
plugging
in
for
the
drivelthat
is
dished
out
between
the
news
bulletins
of
noon and
nine-and
God
knows
these
are hardly
worth
straining
a
tympanum
to
hear.
{'
A
noteworthy
example
of
ineptitude
preceded
Mr.
Churchill'smost
welcome
speech.
It
was
the
reading
of
a
news
itemfrom
the
Cerman
communiqud
which
asserted
that
len
British
'planes
had
beendestroyed
to
/aoNazi
'planes.
Not
one
word
of
contradiction
or
con-
firmation
was
vouchsafed.
If
the
German
statement
is
true,
heaven
help us
when
thewar
starts.
If it
isn't,why
aren't
we
told
)
J('
Take
the
case
of
"
Courageous."
Beyond
telling
us
that
they
"
believe
"
the
U-boat
that sunLit
was
itself
destroyed
the
Ministry
of
Information
add
not
one
word.
Yet they
repeat
the
"
frameup
"
of
the
Nazi
liars
thattheU-boat
retumed
and
its
crew
were
decorated
.
.
.
rep€at
that
lie
so
thatAmerica
and
all theworld
can
give
it
greater
Iistening
!I
know
from
one
of
the
crew
of
"
Courageous
"
that
the
submarine
aas
*en
bg
all
to
shoot
out
of
the
water,
"
almost
per-
pendicular,"followingthedepth
charges,
and
then
to
fall
back
atthe
sameangle.
^*
Unless
the
Nazi
submarines
have
been madecapable
of
looping
the
loop
it
is
inconceivable
that
this
one
ever
returned
to
its
base,
and
the
German
broadcast
yarn
about
the iron
crosses
of
the
3rd
and
2nd
classawarded
to
its
crew
is
so
much
eyewash.
But
whY
shouldour
so-calied
Ministry
of
Informa-
tion
spread
that
yam
by
means
of
the
83.C,
without
one
word
of
criticism
or
comment
?
I
give
it
up.
*
I
gready
doubt
that
we
shall
see
many
motoi
vehicles
goingabout
their
larvfuloccasiois
by
means
of
gas
bags,
as
we
did
in1917.
I
mvsel{ drovea car
fitted
with
EOITOR.S OFFICE
THEWAR
ILLUSTRATED,
JOHN
CARPENTER
HOUSE,
\/VHITEFRIARS,
LONDON.E.C,4.
one
and
remember
that
it
didnl
do
toobadly,though
I
wentinconstant
dread
of
a
cigarette
setting
it
ablaze.Surely
we are
in-
comparablybetter situat€d
as
regards
petrol
today
than
wewere
'way
back
in
'17.
*
Some
day,
if
I
survive,
I
think
I
shall
write
a
book
to
be
called
"
Through
Three
Wars."
True, the
first
wasn't
a
very
big
affair,though
it
was
menacing
enough
in
its
repercussions,
for
Germany
and
Francewere
both
anti-British
then.
I
well
remember
my
wife and
I
being
targets
for
stones
and
over-ripe fruit
thrown
by
little
French
lads
while
wewere
cycling
through
Caudebec-en-Caux
..
forty
years
ago,
alas
!
because
our
soldierswere
then
fighting
the
Boers
!
.
.
.
or
could
it
havebeen
because
Kitchener
had so recently
gotthe
better
of
Major
Marchand
at
Fashoda
)
How
quickly
mob
affections change,as
Shake-speare
so cunningly
shows
us
in
the im-mortalForum
scene
of"
Julius
Caesar."
J(
I
am
sorry
to
see
theold
horses
coming
back
to London.My
satisfaction
in
the
mechanization
of
the
Army
was mainly
due
to
the
feeling
that
there
would
be
fewer
horses
to
be mangled
onthe
battle-
field,
and
I
fear
that
whenLondon
reallyfeels
the
weight
ofair
raids many
of
the
thousands
of
horses
that
have
returned
to the
metropolis
as
substitutes
for
motors
BACK
NUMBERSMany
th0usands
of
readers
w€re
dis-
apgointed
in
not
being
able
to
secure
copi€s
of
Nos.
l
and
2 ofTHE
wAR
ILLUSTRATED,
and my
publishers
have
been
inundated
with
orders
for
these
numbers,
as
a
largeproportion
of
sub-
scribers
wish
to
keep
their
weekly
parts
lor
binding
into
volume
form-particulars
of
which
will
be
furnished
later.
The
amazing
success
of
T H
E
WA
R
I L
L
U
ST
B
A T
E
D-easily
an
unap-
proached
record
for
all
time-has
swept
the
market clear
of
all
copies
of
Nos.
1
and
2
and
the
publishers
hav€
only
nowbeen
able
to
arrange
for
re$rints
of
these
tw0
issues
sufficient
to
cover
the
immense
quantity
of
orders
from
the
trade.
There cannot be
a
furtherreprint
of
these
particular
numbers,
as
the
demand
upon
theprinting
resources
of
the
pub-
lishers
to
maintain
the
week-to-week
supply
is
s0
great
that
already
they
are
being
taxedto thelimit
ofcapacity.
Therefore
I
advisereaders
who
have
missed
Nos,
l
or2to
lose
no
time
in
securing
the
same
fromtheir
news.
egents-
Thc
supplynow available
is
timitod and
regetition
will
be
impossible.
At
an carly
date
I
shallhave
pleasure
in
detailing
the
publishers'
arrangement
for
binding
our
vclum*
are
all too lil-ely
to
be
helplesssuf,erers
in
the
bombing.
The
unhappy
devotion
of
the
Poles
to
the
cavalry
arm
added
a
distressing
amount
of
animal
su{lering
to
the
heroic
martyrdomof the
people.
#
Dried
apricot
seeds
don't
mean
a
thing to
you
orme
..
.
other thandried
apricot
seeds.
Yet
I'm
told
that
tons
of
them
havebeen
confiscated
by
the
British
Navy
as
contraband
on
thewayto
Germany.
Whv
?
They
form
an
in'
gredientin
the
makingofpoison
gas,Oh,
they
are
busy
withtheir
poison
gas,these
bestialNazis
;
and
don't
letus
forgrt
it.
*-
Believe
it or
not
!
Just
read an
article
in
"
Listener's
Digest,"
of
New
York,
on
"
Champion
Liars,"
and
there
is
no
mentionof
Goebbels,
or
Hitler.
)f
One
of
the
most significant
thingsI
havenoticed
in
the
news
from
Belgium
is
the
fact
that
no
fewerthan
fifty
Nazi
journalists-each
of
whom
is
merely
a
lying
propagandist
expelled
from
Paris-
are
now
resident
inBrussels.
They
have
all
somehow
been
accommodated
as
"
press
attachds
"
of
the
Nazi
Embassy
there
!
Moreover,although
all
the
Frenchprivate
residents
in
Belgium
have
,ro*
r"irrrn"d
to
France,
none
of
theGermanresidents
there
have
gone
back
to
Germany.
This
looks
to
melilte
the
Nazis'
"fifth
column
"
in
Belgium
ready
for
the invasion.
{t
To
me
one
of
the
most
noteworthyfacts
of thewar
so
far
has been
the
con-quest
of
Poland,
not
by any
"
secret
arm,"
but
by
anarm
invented
by an
English-
man:the
Tank.
Despite
all
the
brag-
gadocio
of
Hitler, the
most'
formidable
thing
on
wheels came
outof
the
brain
of
an'Englishman
in
theCreat War,and
I
have
lirtle
doubtthat the
British
invention
which
was used
with
such
deadly
''efect
against
Psland
will
y*
be used'effectivelyagainst
Germann
for
it
is
seldom
that
an
originalinvention
is
beaten
by
imitations.
Ji
Whenever-and
if
ever
!-l
move
into
a
new houie,
it will
not
have
a
singleroom
withparquetflooring,
whereas
there
areno
fewer than
nine
of
them
in
my
pr€sent
home.For thefirst
five
weeks
o{
the
WarI've
beengoingabout
with
a
cracked
rib
as
the result.of
a
dreadful
crashwhen
a
door
mat
slid from
beneath
my
feet,
thanks
to
that
polishedparquet.All
the
mats
in
my
home
havesince
been
made
proof
against
slipping
by a
simple
device-the
old storyof the
stolen
horse
and
the
locked stable
door.
In
these
days
of
dim
irreligiouslights
let
meurge
my
readers
to
avoid broken
ribsby
having
foor
mats
treated
with
some
of
the
various
non-slip
deviceswhere
the
floors on
which
theylie
are
of
polished parquet.
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