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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1942-03-05, Page 7.• ,41.04r. 4-1 • •%k.14.‘1...iv CANADIANS never shall wear the shackles of slavery. This is the stern determination of every man and woman in the Dominion. But Freedo.m nuistbe fought for-Land paid for. Today, more weapons, more equipment are a. dire necessity. Victory Bonds will help supply them. All those serving at the battlefronts are relying on our support. Back them up with Victory Bonds. Remember, every Victory Bond you buy is a sound interest-bearing investment, secured by the nation's entire resources. A-44 ,r National Woe Snake Committee, Ottawa, Cahatio WING AM, ADVANCE-TIMES Mars(lay, March .5* 1942, SUBSCRIBE To CANADA'S SECOND VICTORY LOAN dropp 5.1 FARMERS ADVISED TO BUY THEIR CHEMICALS EARLY Farmers who use chemicals and chemical products to control insects, diseases, or parasites affecting their live stock, field crops, orchards or their seeds are advised by the Agri- . „.... and equipment neatly piled up where soldiers had slept. There were other things I saw that day. The Canadians have been build- ing roads to eliminate hazards and obstacles that might slow up an arzuy speeding towards the coast. We drove along the wide Ridge Road with broad valley and chalk hills on either side, There was no speed limit. Then we came to art ancient town with narrow,' winding streets, The effects could be imagined. To ejiminate the worst of these, two sweeping by-pass roads have been built around English towns, They lack the picturesqueness of the old roads but they do speed up the through traffic. Finally, Colonel Mann gave us a demonstration of the efficiency and speed of the Reconnaissance Battal- ion, He stepped over to one of the wireless units and said a few words, Inside of three minutes, a stream of universal carriers and armored cars was tearing down the road past the spot where we stood, slowing down for a corner and turning out of sight. I don't, know how far away it was when that wireless call went out,•but that battalion must be trained to standards that would do credit to a city fire brigade. Conference with Gen. McNaughton .It was in the late afternoon that our cars filed up a. driveway bordered with hedges clipped in fancy shapes and stopped in front .of another large man- sion, this time the headquarters of General MoNaughton—Lieut.-General A. G. L. IvIeNau.ghton, to be more pre- cise, The ensuing two hours were a- mong our most interesting in. England-, While we ate tea and sandwiches, standing arqund .3 table in a room whose windows looked out on what must have been wonderful gardens in peacetime, General McNaughton mov- ed front one to another, He was part icularly interested in ,elatives and friends in Ottawa, for he had been head of the National Research Coun- cil there. As a noted scientist, as well as a soldier,°I believe the the General has a right to place almost the whole alphabet after his name to indicate de- grees and decorations. He did not look well at that thne, and since then has been forced to take a month off to rest and recuperate, I have never met anyone who knew him, who did not characterize him. as "a fine fellow." After that day, I could understand. Having fed us the customary Eng- lish afternoon tea, General McNaugh- ton took' us upstairs to his own office. It was large and airy, Maps hung on all the walls: A dozen editors and a few staff officers sat down at tables, with the General in the centre of the horseshoe, and he gave a short ad- dress and then answered every -ques- tion, There was no hesitation and no evasion. iOceationally, having -told us sornethin:&, he would say that that was not for publication, but that was the only restriction, He kept no secrets from his visitors. Of all the editors present, I seemed to be the only one taking notes that, afternoon; They were fairly complete, Looking 'over them now, some months later, I find that they are still timely and val4ble, At that time, Moscow and Petri:mgrad• were both threatened by the ehemy. Since then, that situ- ation imas;, changed, but without alter- ing what .General McNaughton said of the Russians and of the war in gener- al. It was in this talk he coined the famous phrase about the Canadian Corps being "a dagger pointed at the heart of perlin," More valuable, per- haps, were his remarks on equipment, training and reinforcements. Feeling, that the important message -which he, asked us to give Canadians' Should not be condensed, I will devote a separate article to the things which General /4cNaughton said that day, will be the next in the series,. On other days, during my visit in Britain, I met members of the Head- quarters staff in London. One evening, I had dinner with Major Charles Stacey, whose task is to write the of- ficial .history of the part which the cause they are useful in war induSteles, or because the factories in which they were made have been converted to war uses. Some products which are plenti- ful may be in greater demand ,than, usual because they can replace those which have become scarce. Another . reason for the shortage of supplieg may be a scarcity of shipping space, -both by water 4mmd by rail as the heavy traffic of munitions of war interferes with time normal movement .of civilian supplies. Manufacturars and suppliers of pest, icicles used by farmers .have tried.to. anticipate the season's ,requiretnent'S, and the Agricultural Supplies Board believes that reasonable stocks of such chemicals are on hand. If farmers will lay in ahead of time supplies of sprays and dusts for all purposes, and dis- infectants, they will help merchants to avoid last-minute shortages. - The advantage of early purchase is that it enables local merchants to send - to their dealers or jobbers fresh orders so that their shelves may be restocked. Jobbers and dealers can pass orders on.. t o the manufacturer and give him a 'chance to ask, where necessary, for priorities to manufacture products for agricultural purposes. - think how cultural Su li B d b t pp es oar tobuy M a they need early this year, ° Many of these products are getting If you haven't much, scarce because they come from over- little you have to get to improve your seas, Other materials are scarce be- I situation. Canadian Corps takes in time war, nephew of Mrs. Perry, formerly editor of the Elora E,:zpress. flefore he took over this present work, he 'was a professor of history. He will du- a good job. Photographically, the story of the corps is also being well looked after, but there seem to be no Cana- dian painters on the job, That is a lack that should be remedied. I believe trio young painters are with a unit in Canada, but apparently there are none. in England or Scotland. Captains Gillis Purcell, our guide that day, is back in Canada, He met, with an' unfortunate accident a few , weeks after our visit, losing a leg, when a canister, -being dropped. from a plane, broke away from its para- chute and struck him below the knee. Conditions In Great Britain and Other Countries As seen and written by , Hugh Templin, Editor of the Fergus News-Record. NW, .117.0.11.11.11.01104111•101.1111.4111100.1111111.0.61•10 aminstabu.anwoua..3.1.2.1...a.u4ssualwomzboomwisesinoeloppeumueimamo.ams.o0.1.0.mao.o.mma.o.a...eamo....011. Canadian Corps Head- quarters Entertained Visiting Editors This is the tenth in the series of articles written exclusively for the 'weekly newspapers of Canada by Hugh Templin of the Fergus News- Record. Mr. Templin flew to Great Britain as a guest of 'the British Council and was given an opportun- ity to see what is being done in Britain in Wartime. • The South of England is full of 'Canadian soldiers. One is as apt to see .a Canadian military uniform in any part of the countryside south of London as 'in Trafalgar Square itself —and Trafalgar Square is the meeting ,place, for all Canadians on leave. I was up early on the morning of Friday, September 26th. Breakfast in -the,Savoy consisted of tomato juice, excellent rolls, 'tea, butter and mar- malade. Breakfast was always a dif- ficult meal. There were no eggs. The coffee didn't taste like coffee and prob- ably wasn't. :Ile butter was cut in pieces the diameter of a shilling but about half as thick, The waiter said 'the supply of marmalade was just a- -bout done, Next month, there wouldn't be any. The )ituriber car was waiting at the -door, with a Canadian flag over the radiator. The driver crossed West- minster bridge, skirted a noted cricket ground and drove through a part of London where there was about one 'building destroyed in every black. The great Croydon aerodrome showed less damage than might have been expect- ed, for it was one of the first targets in London to be bombed. Troops on the Move It was not long till we were in the .area where Canadian troops were on the move. That was the time when most of the Army in Britain was en- gaged in manoeuvres, trying out the plan to repel invasion. In theory, the Germans had landed in the Southeast but had been repelled. Then it was supposed tiat another landing had been accomplished south of Hull and -the defenders were moving up to the East CoaSt, In order to leave the life of the met- ,. Topolis undisturbed, the Canadian Corps was working its way around 'behind London, crossing the Thames between London and Reading and 'then heading northeast. The day before, we had patted the artillery and the tanks, hour after hour, on the broad roads north of London. On this fine morining, we saw 'infantry on the move, truck after Ituck. The fine ear in which I was riding .developed ignition trouble in a little English village, A Chevrolet station Wagon picked me up. The driver was a chap Irani Hamilton, Laurie Aud- fain, official photographer, sat in the 'back teat,, with his cameras and his light meters draped around his neck. He hoped to conic back to Canada after the war and edit a weekly tlewa- Men of 30, 40, 50 PM 111111, VIGO11, Siabnorrnall 'truant_ baring _pop, vIni, vitality1 "JAI Ostrest Tonle Tablets, Contains stimttlantto oyster bletnents--, Ws to tbrmal. pen after $10, 40 or GO. Get a soonial introductory size for only Wry. tins 'aid, to normal pets and *Int oda* or sale at all goad drug kteremo,- paPer. I answered all his question's as well as I could. Captain Purcell waved to us and we stopped at a little park. The other Canadian editors were there al- ready. - Down the narrow street, a steady' stream of Canadian-built motor, trucks passed towards the west. A soldier in uniform directed traffic, keeping it moving, and motorcyclists buzzed up and down the lines, watching that everything was in order. Evidently the Canadian Army had done this kind of thing before, for there was never a hitch. On the corner stood a...little bake shop, but there wasn't a sign of any- thing to eat in the windows or on the counters. Two girls stood inside the door and an occasional soldier, riding with his legs over the back of an army truck,- saw them and waved. Lunch With Major General Odium At noon, I was one of the six edi- tors who. climbed out of cars in front of the fine old house which was then the headquarters of the 2nd Canadian Division. I heard later that it was at. one time a summer home of Queen Victoria. There I met Major General V. W. Odium, who has since gone to Australia as • Canada's commissioner to that country. Many of his staff officers were with him, in spite of the fact that they were more than busy with the maneouvres. No doubt they liked to talk to a group just over from Canada. The meal tasted good, After the ex- otic cooking at the big hotels, this was like Canada again. There was soup, followed by steak (the only beef- steak I saw in England), mashed po- tatoes, carrots, jam, cheese, crackers, rolls and apples. More marvellous, there was a half-pound of butter in each of the dishes. The officer beside me told me it was margarine but I wouldn't have known the difference. Later, there was a discussion about paint. Somebody said the English paint didn't last any more: the oils were all being used for, making marg- arine. Another remarked: "Oh well, you can't eat your paint and have it too." To complete the homelike atmos- phere, there was a white table cloth and a great bowl Of lovely English roses, picked from the garden beside the house, Second Division Demonstrates (That afternoon, I saw a demonstra- tion of the work of the Canadian Corps in the Aldershot area, There was a formal inspection of, the Royal Canadian Regiment, drawn up with its motorized equipment in the back, ground, In nearby fields; I saw the soldiers using trench,mortars, a wide variety of weapon's including totmny gUnS, once the favorite weapons of American gangsters, now useful fii close-range fighting, There were port. able wireless units, some small en- ough to be carried on a man's back, others mounted in trucks. The regi- mot had plenty of Brett guns and larger armti4ank weapons, Even the rifles, with their shorter bayonets, have several uses now. About one quarter of the Canadian troops were living in houses at that time. Some of these were nearby. They seemed to be quite new, and were certainly modern. They were 1.18. cd for sleeping only and every room, except the bathrooms, bad blankets