World Film and Television Progress (1938)

Between France and Germany stretches the great fortified tunnel known as the " Maginot Line." Extending from Belgium to Switzerland this great defensive line has been the subject of much interest and speculation. Here is an on-the-spot description by Edward Murrow and others broadcast from the "Maginot Line" itself. The broadcast was arranged and relayed to America by the Columbia Broadcasting Company. fully to see them because they're not very obvious. And then, if you looked out beyond that line you'd see something that looked like a dark brown stain winding its way down through the valley and over the crest of the hills to the west. At first glance it would look almost dead sage-brush. If you walked out there you'd find that it's barbed wire entanglements— firmly anchored in the ground — and just beyond the barbed wire you'd see a strange sight : a little forest of rails — I mean railway rails — each one sticking up about five feet above the ground. They're planted there like posts, and they're calculated to cause a great deal of difficulty for tanks. This hedge of railway rails parallels the barbed wires as far as you can see. Out in front of the rails all appears to be peaceful and quiet, but it's reasonable to suppose that there are mines out there. This whole country is interlaced with high-speed, hard-surfaced military roads. Walking through the woods you may at any time come unexpectedly upon a field of ten acres of barbed wire. If you turned and looked behind you, you'd see a few grey buildings in the dim distance: those would be barracks. There are probably other underground barracks that you can't see. There would be peaceful-looking farm-houses in the valley — probably black and white cows in the fields. Driving up here yesterday a man pointed, out to me a delightful little chateau set in a clump of woods. He remarked "My grandfather was killed there in 1870". That, you will remember, was in the Franco-Prussian war. No one knows how many Germans and how many Frenchmen have given up their lives in this peaceful-looking valley in the course of the last two hundred years. It has been the floodgate of war. This area has been fortified since Roman times — they found the remains of Roman forts while excavating for these modern monsters. If you could look across these hills to the German frontier as I did just before coming down here you'd probably think of those thousands of miles of unguarded frontier between the United States and its neighbours and you'd probably wonder how many people in Germany and how many people in France would be happier if this frontier could be as peaceful as ours. Above ground one sees very few troops about. Down here, all stations are manned and it's the same all along the line. The troops, or "moles" as they call themselves, seem well fed and happy. They play cards and listen to the radio during their leisure time, sleep in comfortable double-decker beds very much like those used in the American army barracks. (Every young man to-day, in France, must serve two years with the colours.) Those here seem to be cheerful enough about it. There is a spirit of comradeship between officers and men that is traditionally associated with the French Army, and discipline doesn't seem to suffer as a result of it. In a time of emergency, the lives of these men down here would depend on the smooth functioning of very complicated machinery. There must be a constant flow of power for the lights, the ventilators, the guns, the kitchen, and all other essential services. That power is supplied by a battery of huge Diesel engines. I couldn't find my way down to the engine-room: there are too many galleries and turnings on the way, but we have run a telephone line down there, so let's listen to them. {Sound of the engines for ten seconds.) van ackers: Engine-room calling. There are eight big Diesel engines down here and they're running very quietly, although it may not sound so to you. Everything in the engine-room is spotlessly clean. These engines are coupled on alternators which produce the electric current for the fort. Along the wall are cylinders of compressed air for use in starting the engines. The door to the engineroom, like all the other doors, has rubber round the edges to make it gas-proof. I don't know how they get the fuel down here, but it must be stored underground in great quantities, since the fort is a self-contained unit capable of functioning for several weeks, even though it should be completely cut off from the outside world. This room is certainly the heart of the fort, but the whole mechanism is, of course, controlled through the telephone exchange. E. murrow: We're back at the masterswitchboard still a little more than 100 feet underground in the Maginot Line. We've tried to tell you what we've seen in this most modern example of the oldest type of defence. It's the sort of thing that's difficult to put into words. There's something unreal about it. These long miles of white corridors. The unknown thousands of men spending their days and nights underground, being quite natural and matter-of-fact about it. It's spring up above, the sun is just going down, people only a few miles from here are sitting down to their evening meal, probably a band is playing in one of those delightful squares in Metz, soldiers on leave, dressed in sky-blue uniforms, are strolling through the parks with good-looking French girls. In a few minutes, we're going up above, but the men down here will continue to man their stations — waiting. We had hoped to bring you the voice of one of the officers, commanding this section of the Maginot Line. They've shown us great courtesy and permitted us to try to tell you of things seen by very few people outside the French fortress army. However, they've made it quite clear that they consider it the job of the French army to plan and wait, and not to talk. We have been talking to you from the Maginot Line. This has been the first broadcast ever undertaken from this world-famous system of fortifications. We've tried to report what we have seen, and to give you some impression of the men and machines in the Line. This is Edward Murrow speaking from the Maginot Line, and returning you now to America. THE MAY-JUNE NUMBER Apologies to our readers for the delay in the May number of " World Film News", and for the unexplained dating of that number May-June. This was due to a technical breakdown. Subscribers will be credited with an extra issue. 117