Show motley army joins english fighting force men from many nations leave homes to war against germ germany any ByRO by ROGER GERSHAW SHAW released d by western newspaper union washington when the british beat napoleon the hitler of his time at waterloo only about half of the british army was actually british the rest reet of welling tons outfit was a strange mixture of peoples who thought they were fighting for their freedom the list was a long one it took in dutchmen belgians Hanover ians and men from brunswick nassau and saxe wei mar ariar the Hanover ians did well in the battle but the dutch belgians and men of nassau did very ery badly after the battle large groups of the latter were found playing cards miles back of the field of honor the kings german legion was the th e best and best known of these foreign outfits under british leadership the legion was made up of refugees from all over the germa nies a hodgepodge elodge then under napoleonic pole onic domination the legion served on every sort of 1 front during the long war cycle even acting as marines in various naval operations they fought from the north cape to the north african coastline and campaigned against the americans in n 1812 and after they were owned and equipped by the british government and they burned with hatred of the hitler like bonaparte who had turned their fa ther lands into a new order the legion which made a specially distinguished record at waterloo contained austrians Aust lans rians and Nether netherlanders landers as well cis as natives of the various little Ger germanics Genn manies anies history tends to repeat itself and in the year 1941 the kings legion has e ome come to life again in various forms form the old legion was predominantly germanic the new legion 0 or legions are politically anti geran germanic but they take in a wide varle variety ty adof ol 01 peoples this time they include dutch belgians corwe glans gians danes poles czechs czecho free frenchmen and goodness knows what else in such cases their countries ba have ve been overrun and england has become the refuge the last white hope or chance in fighting for england these people feet feel they are fighting for their the irown own lost countries and against the common tyrant today the is A H and not N B but otherwise things are much as they were a century and a third ago in england today there are also anti fascist germans italians ians and austrians Aust rians who swell the alien ranks of the kings foreign legion this is not an innovation innovate on either anti fascist frenchmen served england against napoleonic france in the early in short what we are witnessing now as then is an international civil war foreign fighters today there are something like fo reign foreign legionaries legion legio aries narles serving the british empire strang strangely ely enough this Is just about the same size a as the kings german legion of antiquity ty these foreign legionaries legion aries might in a sense be considered tie he composite army 0 of f the late lamented latie league of nations inmany in many cases their dummy 1 governments gohei are arc in london or bristol as well as their armed representatives the king of norway and the queen of holland are among the foreign le gion rulers in the british isles as was the black ethiopian lion of ju XZ his c country was seize seized by the nazis in afar march 1939 but this czechoslovak ian uviah avi fishes gats on as a valuable member of the royal air ir force a ce kaz W all j 4 s av PI men alen have come thousands of 01 miles to fight betide beside the british in their war against the axis powers the arab soldiers left leftare are helping to defend egypt while the american aviators center and the gunner from india right do their part in england to keep hillers Hit flit lers in check oa dah h until recently ie halle selas ale poland and belgium have ambassadors bass adors to the british government and vice versa while norway holland and the czechs czecho still maintain official ministers to the court of st S james general de represents the free frenchman but he has no official standing with the french vichy government the foreign troops in england wear british uniforms and use british equipment except tor for the officers on leave in london they wear their fancy ancy native garb which seems to bore the londoners Lon doners to a marked degree the dutch are really considered the most useful and best liked of glands En exiled allies the english and dutch peo peoples pies are closely akin and follow much the same pattern of behavior the duch have presented the british government with close to a million tons of commercial shipping and some small warships to boot the dutch east indies with their oil rubber and tin are still independent and they have perhaps inhabitants there are very few dutch soldiers in england the dutch army lasted only tour four days but the merchant fleet and colonies make up the difference another tons of D dutch u shipping are now trading on their own in the faraway pacific area Norwegia ns popular second most popular with the english people are the norwegians Norwegia ns like the lutchies Dut chles chies they too are chiefly nautical in their contributions norway has supplied england with close to 1000 ships something like three or four our million tons of shipping some lesser norwegian ware raft also are operating cooperating co with the british navy these are mostly destroy destroyers ers minesweepers and armed whalers chalers with perhaps the worlds best crews the poles free french belgians and czechs czecho are not as popular in england as the kindred dutch and norwegians Norwegia ns the poles are the most numerous ol of the alien lot and the most boastful they have garrisoned scotland and are also serving in the royal air force they have some ships with the royal navy and a puppet government at london their commander in ander has been gen kt a good man of comparatively liberal libera I 1 convictions who was on bad terms with the reckless polish dictatorship which reigned at the beginning of the war the czechs czecho close kith and kin of the poles pole s are not v very ry many they are largely college men and armed intellectuals Intellectual sas as brainy as the poles are militaristic just the same the exiled polish and czech governments are planning a czech polish federation for the sweet bye and bye a after the war some of the belgian politicos are actually petitioning to be taken into the british empire with dominion status after the s shooting hooting is shot these belgians are very angry at their king leo who is still in be belgium I 1 they think soine some of them that he sold the allies down the river a claim which history may have a pretty hard time to substantiate there are some belgians in the royal air force and elsewhere I 1 including nc luding a few ultra rich playboys the tree free Fren chles are another story the tactful british government has never known quite what to do with them if england Is too kind to de who Is none too popular at home it may drive vichy in into to the arms of berlin de gaelles Ga ulles dakar expedition to west africa WE was is a terrible flasco fiasco de G aulle hims himself elf is persona grata with churchill bu but t not with many other englishmen at the same time he tends to serve as a useful brake on the po politicians 11 ticia n s and generals of vichy further ter the french colonies of syria north africa and martinique with their important armed forces force s continue to be against de and for or ole old petain the poles and norwegians Norwegia ns are reported as the toughest and most vengeful of the kings foreign le gion aries the polish attitude la is perfectly understandable poland has been very badly treated I 1 in n the norse case the pro english nor deglans We glans hate the pro german 1 nor ore we gians glans and carry this haar hatred d to a degree the other exiled groups seem somewhat surprisingly indifferent at times when viewed through excited american spectacles just the same if the invasion of england ever comes these motley groups may be counted on to fight fiercely and no holds barred its their last chance this side of paradise paradise in this case means america |