Show 11 France Fronts Now Admit Poles Put Up Better Fight By y AXEL S SMALL PARIS July 11 De De Delayed By By Courier to to- Berlin In In this city the people are only slowly learning how great a part partIn In the German success was contributed contributed contributed con con- by the weakness of their adversaries One by one the French are losIng losing losing los los- ing their Illusions concerning the quality of ot the battle put up by their army and their allies In the west I have heard veterans of ot the previous war sorrowfully ad ad- mit the probable truth of ot the Judgment uttered by the German officers who participated in the campaign of ot last September and this one that of all the opponents opponents opponents the Germans have faced the Poles put up the best show- show Ing This Is an especially bitter admission admission admission ad ad- mission to make In France where In the past wInt winter r the stock comment of ot the brief briet resistance resistance resistance re re- re- re of Poland was France FranceIs Frances Is s a quite different country from Poland and the French army Is an entirely different proposition from the Polish army Now examining their capacity capacity ca ca- parity the French have to admit admit admit ad ad- mit that everything was wrong with their army from top to bottom Frequently Frenchmen ask the question What was their general general general gen gen- eral staff doing during the first eighth months at their headquarters headquarters headquarters head head- quarters at La Ferte Sous Jouarre The answer generally offered is that every one from frome t the h h. e generalissimo General GeneralI e I Maurice Gustave Gamelin Camelin on down spent the time playing Bridge More thoughtful people say that the general staff undoubtedly undoubtedly undoubtedly edly was busy enough but with the he wrong things The main fault ault was one classic in French military annals and expressed Ina in ina ina a popular epigram Our generals generals generals gen gen- are always one army one war and one Idea behind the times Umes This time its two chiefs chiefs- Gamelin and General Alphonse Georges were Georges were obsessed with the Idea of ot fighting the 1914 war over again It is now painfully evident that they like their colleagues colleagues colleagues col col- col- col leagues refused to recognize the Immense change b brought r o 0 u ugh g h t through strategy and tactics by mechanization They paid no attention to General General General Gen Gen- eral Francisco Francos Franco's campaign cam campaign campaign cam cam- along the Ebro river In Inthe Inthe inthe the spring of ot 1939 Still worse although they had the advice of Polish staff officers they disregarded dIsregarded disregarded the almost revolutionary changes in warfare displayed by bythe bythe bythe the Germans in their Polish cam cam- In strategy as well as tactics the French seem to have been asleep at the switch Although French military commentators for over two years now have discussed discussed discussed dis dis- dis- dis cussed the possibility of a German German German Ger Ger- man advance through t the h e Netherlands and Belgium to turn the Maginot line the general staff acted as if it it had been completely completely com com- taken by surprise and had no plans ready Here is a personal observation On May 13 the drive to the west then being four days old I was standing on a little hill about two miles west of Louvain watching a heavy air attack on that town From that hill I had hada a rare view over a network of ot Belgian roads and I could see them swarming with allied soldIers soldiers soldiers sol sol- sol sol- diers and equipment Returning to Brussels I learned that not only Louvain but many other Belgian Begian towns had been bombed that day and there had also been plenty of dive bombing by the Germans on the front But there was no news of the advancing French and British columns being at attacked attacked attacked at- at tacked although they presented such an admirable target The conclusion was obvious that the Germans had some excellent excellent excellent ex ex- ex- ex reason for wanting the allied forces to keep on moving far into Belgium |