Pigeons In, Men Out

> The austere, punctilious French Ministry of War announced last week that it had mobilized 100,000 pigeons in the Maginot Line--to carry messages, especially through artillery barrages.

> The same Ministry also announced that it was demobilizing 100,000 men--all members of the class of 1910 (born 1890), all fathers of four or more children, all 43-year-olds with three children, 45-year-olds with two--so that they could go home and be producers instead of sitting at the front as idle consumers.

> A French freight train chuffed calmly out of Mulhouse, across No Man's Land under the muzzles of Germany's guns, and up to Basel, Switzerland--first French train to arrive there since the end of August. Explained the engineer: "We had a lot of stuff consigned to Switzerland sitting in the freight station ... so I thought I might as well bring it along."

> German loudspeaker units played French music across No Man's Land at the French lines. When they switched to peace overtures and Adolf Hitler's speeches, the French fired at the loudspeakers.

> French experts estimated the troops massed by Adolf Hitler from the North Sea to Switzerland as follows:

On The Netherlands border from Emden down to Minister: 18 divisions.

On the Moselle-Rhine front from Trier to Karlsruhe: 32 divisions.

On the Swiss border from Basel to Lake Constance: 12 divisions.

Total: 1,500,000 men.

> Rain, sleet, snow fell on the Western Front. Rivers rose two feet higher. Mud deepened. Despite continued German troop concentrations and systematic artillery fire, consensus of military observers was increasingly against any Big Push by land this winter.

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