Daily Post - 29.07.1941, Síða 2

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A Soldier Home on Leave:
Trees, Grass, Flowers, Trains
By Pte. Harry Sherman.
— ♦
TREES! Real, live honesí—to—goodness, trees, complete with
trunk, branches, twigs and a mass of leaves and blossoms;
GRASS! Long, silky, luscious grass, weaving invitingly ío and
fro as the breeze ripples through it; FLOWERS! From thte
humblest daisy in the field to the proudest rose—tree, alone in
its glory in the centre of th'e manor lawn — a galaxy of crim-
sons, blues and golds; — Yes, Sir! This is Rritain alright!
DAILY POST
k i«MMd by S. Tiinirtllrt—on
publidwr oi Daily Poot.
Office: 12, Aiuturatraeti. T*W-
phone 3715. Roykjovlk. Prin-
ted by Aiþýðuprentamiðjan.
Tuesday, July 29, 1,941.
Inside fiermany
Trains of Wounded
Bring Depression
' According to trustworthy
information from Germany it
is now though that the opin-
ion now prevailing among
Nazi military chiefs is that the
Russian mechanised and motor-
ised divisions have been
putting up an excellent show.
What amazes the Germans
particularly is the high stand-
ard of efficiency displayed by
the Russian Commanders in
foreseeing and forestalling the
Gferman methods and in devis-
ing the soundest tactical and
strategical plans.
Trains arriving daily from
the east, bring home ten to
12 thousand wounded are
causing depression among the
population of the capital, says
a traveller who has just arriv-
ed in Ankara from Berlin. —
People are waiting on the
autumn with apprehension, ;—
knowing that the R.A.F. raids
will then start with a venge-
ance.
The slowness of the Ger-
man advance has shaken the
populations’ belief in the in-
vulnerability of their Army.
Indications of German trans-
port difficulties on the Eastern
frontt are given by the fiact
that they are now transport-
ing railway rollirig stock from
Spain to Russia. The Spanish
gauges are the same as the
Russian, while German trucks
have too narrow a wheel base
to be used on the Russian lin-
es.
Americans arriving -in Lis-
bon, via Spain, saw these
trucks being hoisted at the
French frontier on to narrow
gauge trucks, and they were
told that they were bound for
Russia. That the Nazis should
consider it worth while- to
bring these few trucks right
across Europe testifies to their
difficulties. , Spain’s sacrifice
will still further increase her
internal transport problems
The ship sidles into its allot-
led berth at the qualside.
There are smiling faces on the
dockside, women waving hand
kerchiefs, children just waving,
men giving the “thumbs up”
acknowledgment, — but the
main thing is that these people
are SMILING! Again, there’s
no mistake about it. We’re in
Britain!
ANYTHING TO DECLARE?
We disembark. The Customs
Officer asks “Anything to de-
clare?”, and the soldiers reply,
with wide eyed innocence, —
“Nothing to deelare.” They do
this out of consideration for
*
the Customs official, — after
all, his wife would be worried
if he didn’t show up for se-
veral days on account of pres-
sure of work.
A long, snake like monster
on the platform turns out to be
a train. After a cautious re-
connaissance we soon get used
to it and settled down for the
trip to the home town. Fields,
farms and villages flash by.
Many months ago this journey
.might have seemed long and
tiresome, — to-day it seems
like a hectic trip on Blackpool’s
“Big Dipper,” — a thrill at e-
very turn. Not a few of us are
tempted to feel a little asha-
med at our naivete and sudden
lack of sophistication. Just im-
agine, — widely travelled cos-
mopolitans, getting a kick out
of a train ride!
Place namels become more
and more familiar, distances
from home are eagerly calcu-
lated every five minutes .—
100 miles lessen to 50, 50 to
25 to 10 Small taljk ceases,
equipment is fastened on,
everyone helps everyone else
with his pack, rifles are slung
and the train pulls in.
which are largely responsible
for the unsatisfactory food di-
stribution there.
FAMILIAR SIGHTS.
There is a breathless pause
outside the station, just to
drink in the sight of the grand
old buildings, the trams and
buses, the traffic lights and
roundabouts, the super cinema
on the corner, the super pub’
just opposite. There is a queue
of people at the taxi rank, but
the special constable in charge
puts you right at the head of
the line. — “Troops on Leave,”
he explains, and everybody’s
happv. He asks you if you’d
mind sharing taxi with other
people proceeding in the same
direction, aijd you f)j:o|mptly
agree, figuring out that you’re
going to save money that way.
Your eyes are glued to the
window as the car careers
through the town, — the old
haunts are still there,' — the
billiard hall. the club, the ska-
ting rinkv the various palais de
danse. You make a mental pro
mise to use all these places to
the full. Suddenly you enter
your own district, — your own
street, — and pull up at your
own garden gate!
REUNION.
Let’s skip the next ten min-
utes. That is the one part of
Leave which is wholly reser-
ved to the individual soldier,
— the one experience which
does not need to be discus-
sed communally, — it is, in
short, the actual REUNION.
Then the questions begin to
trickle, to flow, to pour:
— How much leave have you
got?
— Twenty—one days.”
— You de9erve it, — and
more. You boys in Iceland are
doing a tough job.
— You’r-e telling me (this
with great feeling).
— What’s the- climate like
out there?
— Nothing on earth.
— What about the girls?
. — They’re beauties, — but a
litt'le bit strange.
— In what way?
— They’re colder in the
summer than in the winter.
— How’s that?
— It’s a lot darker in the
winter.
During a breather, you ask
a couple of questions yourself:
“What’s the food situation in
England, these days?”
There is a knowing, roguish
wink, “Some things are hard
to get, — but WE manage to
get whatever we want!”
(Strangely enough, every
one tells you this, so that you
begin to wonder where the
shortage exists).
It doesn’t take you long to
find out, for when you produce
a 50—tin of fags, a strange and
ecs'tatic light appears to glow
in the eyes of your civilian
friends.
SPARE AN EVENING.
Everyone wants you to pay
them a visit, — “After all, you
have three weeks here, you can
spare me one evening.” You
promise to visit your married.
cousin on Tuesday night. In
the meantime yo.u meet a nice
girl, who happens to be free on
Tuesday night. You think fast,
you spin up a coin, “Heads I
-see the girl, tails, tails I don’t
visit my cousin.” The coin
comes down in your favour. —
You hope your cousin has a
sense of humor.
In the middle of this parti-
cular Leave, the Americans ar-
rived in Iceland. We stole all
the headlines for days. We
suddenly became they very hub
of a whirlpool of speculation
Relatives and friends were
quick to tell us what was going
to happen to us all:
— You’jl be home before
Xmas.
— You’ll be home in a couple
of months.
— Yiou’ll be home a week on
Friday.
— You might as well not go
back.
— I bet you get a telegram
telling you not to go back.
(The last fellow lost his bet).
(Continued on page 3)*