THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF
We had visited the position three weeks before.
Now it was hardly recognizable. Naturally it relied
still upon the concrete block-house and the anti-tank
ditches constructed by the French engineers before
the war, but its depth had increased formidably.
Well-protected strong points had been drained and
the roads re-made. Behind the line of French block-
houses, numerous squads were hard at it
constructing other cement works. Already long steel
hooks marked the outlines of the new casemates,
while the cementers near by mixed the sand and
gravel.
I asked if they were experts.
* Certainly they are. They*re English cementers
that have enlisted in the Engineers/
'The difference you have made to this line in so
short a time is amazing/
Tm happy to hear you say it. We ourselves are
very grateful to the French General Staff for what
we found when we came here. These pill-boxes are
excellent. Would you like to see one?'
The little cement fort was surrounded by a lattice
of barbed wire. It was occupied by a few English
soldiers who manned the periscope, the anti-tank
gun, and the machine-guns. The major spoke to the
sergeant in command:
'Nothing to report?*
"No sir. The other day the farm people said
they'd seen a parachutist come down in the wood in
33 c