THE BATTLE OF FRANCE
patience—their indulgence even. And then the
practical nature of the teaching. Of theory there is
little or nothing. On the blackboards I saw a few
sketches of machinery but never a mathematical
formula, and both the instructor and his pupils
were immediately more comfortable if they could
abandon the blackboard for the object itself. These
Anglo-Saxons have recognized the necessity of
gaining a solid foothold on reality.
As soon as they know how to take down and
assemble their arms, the militiamen start their firing
apprenticeship. Around a huge room ran a diorama
representing a French countryside, with villages,
steeples, isolated farms, haystacks, crossroads. In
the midst of it all stood a tank with gun, gunner,
and, erect in the turret, a gun captain. A non-
commissioned instructor indicated a point on the
diorama to the gun captain.
'Here is a machine-gun opening fire on you. . . .
You want to silence it. Give your orders/
The fair young head nodded vigorously.
'Left. . .. Ten o'clock (the time indicated the
position of the gun on an imaginary dial). A black
hedge two finger-breadths from the steeple. . . .
Range: 600 yards. Fire!*
The gun was innocent of a shell but a pencil of
light struck the diorama at the point aimed at by the
gun at the moment of firing* It was too short.
'Another hundred yards. * . /
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