THE BATTLE OF FRANCE
Poland because they had mastery of the air which
enabled them, before their tanks advanced, to
disorganize command. But it'll fail against us,
because we're lucky enough to possess a strong
force of fighter planes/ *
One after the other, the tanks filed past the
Colonel. With the antennae of their wirelesses
raised, they looked like something from the Middle
Ages. From a distance it seemed as if the officer
standing in the tower bore a lance. Despite the state
of the ground, they completed the difficult course
without a hitch.
'We have/ the Colonel said with satisfaction, 'an
excellent repair shop/
'Who runs it?'
'An engineer who specialized in pumps before the
war. And I'm very glad that they haven't given us
a professional garage-manager who was used to
having all the necessary tools handy. He'd have
moaned all day, while my little engineer uses what
he's got and gets along marvellously. Here is our
lorry-shop/
All the parts, nuts, and bolts that might be required
to repair these complicated motors were set out in
carefully docketed compartments. An expert
attended to the radio apparatus.
'Do they work all right?' I asked.
'Yes, quite well enough to transmit the sort of
* Yes, that sort of thing was said then by intelligent officers.
40