14
British Militiamen Learn Their Jobs*
* At the end of January I spent three weeks in England and saw
the new divisions being formed. One of the ministers asked me:
'How do you like them?' I answered: 'They seem very good, but
I am like Oliver Twist: I ask for more.'
\ytk February, 1940]
Tanks
THE hangar was enormous: big enough to
house attacking tanks, both heavy and light,
and models of motors bisected to show how
the machinery functioned. Everywhere groups of
from eight to ten young men, separated by screens
of stretched packing-cloth, sat round tables on which
lay detached machine pieces. Each man wore the
mechanic's blue overalls and the beret of our French
chasseurs alpins. Each group had in its midst its
instructor, a commissioned or non-commissioned
officer. And all went to make up one of the future
regiments of the Royal Tank Corps*
'Blackwell, how many sparks to one complete
revolution of the motor?'
What strikes the French visitor is first of all the
quality of the instructors, the clarity of their
explanations, the precision of their questions, their
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