[Editor’s Warning: Please note that while the “Advance Post” is a genuine WWII artifact, its content is a mixture of fact and fiction. Created as part of the training exercise “Operation Spartan,” the exercise-related articles are written so as to describe events as they are being experienced by the Spartan participants, in an environment where troops and supporting forces have been assigned roles within a fictional military scenario. It was published for internal military distribution among participants and was not intended for public circulation as a factual document.]

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

The Advance Post
Published by the British Army in the Field
No. 12   
12 MARCH, 1943    
Free Issue

KEY POSITIONS CAPTURED
3,000 PRISONERS TAKEN
R.A.F. Bomb Tanks and Supply Vehicles

THE following joint Official Communique was issued from Advanced Headquarters, British Army in Southland, yesterday:—
     There is nothing further to report from the Eastland coast.
     Our forces have driven the enemy back to the line of Watling Street and the Grand Union Canal, where it is expected the enemy will make a stand. Heavy fighting is still in progress.
     Elements of British forces have crossed the river Ousel, and several key positions have been secured.
     In the course of Wednesday’s fighting, about 3,000 prisoners were taken, including several senior commanders and staff officers. Large quantities of vehicles, guns and materials have been captured.
     In the Northern Sector, British armoured forces are in contact with the enemy in the area of Northampton and Towcester.
     On Wednesday our Air Force—in addition io reconnaissance of forward areas—carried out offensive operations against enemy airfields. M.T. and tanks, and flew many defensive patrols
     In the morning low-level fighter attacks were made on the enemy light bomber airfields.
     Later, in the course of protecting our troops, our defensive patrols destroyed three enemy ground-strafing fighters, and probably destroyed others.
     Two highly successful strikes were made against enemy M.T. on the road between Newport Pagnell and Buckingham, and a concentration of tanks in the Buckingham—Towcester—Fenny Stratford area was heavily bombed. It is considered that many vehicles were destroyed and others damaged in these operations.
     During the day the enemy attempted to attack one of our airfields while our fighters were on the ground. Our anti-aircraft defences promptly went into action and destroyed six enemy bombers. Our fighters immediately took off and successfully attacked the bases from which these enemy bombers came.
     During the whole of Wednesday's operations we destroyed 11 enemy aircraft—six of them by anti-aircraft fire—for the loss of three of our fighters.
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The Cost of Our Advance

REPORTS which have reached the office of the “Advance Post” indicate the fury of the fighting which has attended the steady advance of our Forces into Eastland during the last few days.
     The enemy’s withdrawal was covered mainly by his armour, on which very heavy casualties were inflicted.
     One armoured formation lost 30 tanks in a single action; another lost 50 per cent. of its effectives.
     An enemy infantry division suffered the loss of almost a complete brigade, who were surprised and captured with their commander and his staff and many vehicles.
     Our own losses have not been light, and, with regret, it must be recorded that one fine Canadian infantry brigade was almost annihilated in an action in which they dealt out heavy punishment to an enemy armoured formation.
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[drawing captioned:] Maj.-Gen. F. A. M. Browning, C.B., D.S.O., commanding airborne forces—a special sketch, by Stanley Parker.
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GERMAN ARMOUR STILL AVOIDING BATTLE

IT is giving away no secret to say that for nearly a week now we have been endeavouring to bring von Rundstedt’s armour to battle, but up to late yesterday afternoon there was no evidence forthcoming that we had been successful.
     That does not mean to say that the boys in the tanks have been having a quiet time. Since our advance began over a week ago they have been almost constantly on the move, snatching a rest when they could, but always moving forward.
     During the last 48 hours they have been in constant touch with the enemy and there have been several clashes of light elements, of more than local importance.
     One armoured formation, guarding our left flank, in a brilliant forced march, almost got behind the enemy armour a couple of days ago, but shortly before they were in a position to attack they were spotted by a lone reconnaissance plane, and the enemy were able to make a hasty withdrawal and escape the danger.
     This seems to have been the strategy of the enemy since the battle started. He is obviously determined to preserve his armour as long as possible, and as soon as danger threatened, he withdrew, blowing up bridges and mining roads behind him to hold up the advance.
SQUADRON’S SUCCESS
     On one occasion it looked odds on our tanks forcing the enemy to give battle, and there were scenes of great excitement among crews of Crusaders, Covenanters and Churchills, who seemed to smell battle in the air, and who were just longing for a chance to get their own back for the treatment meted out to civilians in Oxford (as already described in the “Advance Post.”
     Shortly before dark the order came to move forward and along narrow country lanes and through fields moved column after column of steel monsters.
     Rundstedt's men, however, got the warning just in time, and again carried out their withdrawal policy and managed to extricate their main forces without fighting.
     Two squadrons, however, were not so lucky. Just as dusk was falling a Welsh reconnaissance squadron came upon an enemy squadron moving north, just south of Towcester.
     Their attack came as a complete surprise and, without loss, the Welshmen knocked out half the enemy squadron.
     The action was short and sharp. Our squadron swept in close, and against our withering and accurate firing the enemy broke and fled.
     Shortly afterwards, in the same area, the Welshmen came across another enemy squadron and, in a running fight, knocked out two more tanks for the loss of two of its own.
     By daylight yesterday the area was clear of the enemy, except for the dead and prisoners, and our forces were pressing on north and east, still hoping for the chance to prove once and for all the superiority of our men and machines.
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LUFTWAFFE BOMB OWN TROOPS

SOMETHING is seriously wrong with the Luftwaffe. When our troops broke into an Eastland town yesterday they found the Mayor doling out copies of the German newssheet, “The Bulldog,” to an angry queue of people who were being compelled to accept it.
     They were shouting “Give us the Post—we want ‘Advance Post,’” but were being dragooned by burly Nazi guards into taking the horrible enemy organ.
     But here is the main point of the story. In column one of the front page of yesterday's issue of the “Bulldog appears the following queer comment We’ve been strafed by Spitfires and bombed by Venturas.”
     What Venturas? The only Venturas in this campaign are supposed to be operating with the enemy.
     Are the Luftwaffe pilots at last beginning to see the error of their ways and giving their own masters the medicine they have so freely dispensed to the slave nations of Europe?
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FIGHTER COVER FOR OUR TROOPS
(By Our Air Correspondent)

SOME excellent Air-and-Army co-operation has just been witnessed. Acting as spotters for advancing troops, the R.A.F. enabled columns to move forward with the minimum of risk of surprise by the enemy.
     Pilots took their aircraft far over enemy lines, and the information they passed back allowed the Army to carry out its plans with a fairly clear picture of the Germans’ dispositions.
     Working also for their own striking forces, the reconnaissance aircraft picked out concentrations of motor transport and tanks in the enemy's retreat and as a result, these were successfully attacked by fighter-bombers a short time later.
     As the Army moved forward a strong fighter cover was provided, and there appears to have been no effective opposition by the enemy's aircraft. The troops were able to make their advance with full confidence in the air protection given them.
BASES MACHINE-GUNNED
     German bombers attacked one of our airfields, but their success was only temporary. Almost immediately we sent up a force to locate the airfields from which they had flown, and these enemy bases were well and truly machine-gunned.
     The enemy must by this time be working and fighting with his head raised to the skies, wondering where our attack is coming from next. The R.A.F. is keeping him guessing and worrying.
     Sitting in the entrance to my tent, with the typewriter on a makeshift table and a camp bed as a seat, I am typing this to the accompaniment of the incessant roar of our fighter aircraft on their way to and from the battle front.
     Three of our Spitfires have just swooped low over the camp, as if in salute. Perhaps it is a signal that they have just carried out a successful sortie and are returning with more triumphs in the air battle to report. We shall know later—when them station transmits the report to our Senior Intelligence Officer whose tent is a few yards a way from mine.
THE NEWS IS GOOD
     What we do know already is that another successful day of air warfare is drawing to a close The Army and R.A.F. senior officers have been going about with smiles on their faces because the news which comes in minute by minute to this combined advanced headquarters is good.
     Behind me, in a field, airmen and lorry drivers are playing football, the first brief opportunity they have had for recreation since the advance began.
     In the clumps of trees crows are returning to their nests for the night, chattering raucously about the low-flying aircraft which frightened them away throughout the day.
     Several miles away, another kind of camp is settling itself down for the night—a place where history has been made. A few hours ago there was nothing but a bare expanse of land: now there is a flourishing airfield, with large runway and landing lights, flying men, and ground staff's quarters, and guns wherever you look.
     It is the first portable airfield to be used in this campaign, and when the first Mustang landed there earlier to-day, the men who had constructed this modern wonder stood by and cheered. It was the climax of their effort. The Mustang circled round, with hundreds of eyes watching it, then landed perfectly on the wide metal runway in a cloud of dust.
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World's War News

TUNISIA.— Rommel's forces have attacked again, in South Tunisia, but have been repelled with heavy losses. Fighting is continuing. In the north, in the area west of Sedjenane, the enemy launched an attack which was repulsed. Gen-Leclerc's Fighting French forces have captured Metlaoui.
RUSSIA.—The Germans are still making desperate attempts to capture Kharkov, but the Russians are holding on and have destroyed 50 tanks and killed 1,200 men in repulsing the latest attacks. The Germans claim to be fighting in the outskirts of Kharkov. To the south the Red Army is closing in on Vyasma. One column is only 15 miles away from the east, one approaching from the north-east is within 17 miles, and a third, from the north, is about 30 miles distant.
R.A.F.—Railway targets in France were attacked in a fighter sweep yesterday afternoon. Two enemy aircraft were shot down by our patrolling fighters; we lost one plane.
HOME.—In the Commons yesterday the Air Minister announced the formation of an Air Transport Command.
     Giving details of the havoc caused by R.A.F. raids on enemy countries, he said that about 2,000 Axis factories had been destroyed or severely damaged by Bomber Command. Over 1,000,000 people had been rendered homeless, not counting large numbers evacuated for fear of air attack. Photographs of the damage caused by our attack on Essen on the night of 5-6 March show this to have been probably the heaviest blow struck at German war industry in the whole of the bomber offensive.
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[back page of Issue No. 12]
THE ADVANCE POST, 12 MARCH 1943

German Prisoner’s Broadcast
‘Converted’ by British Tolerance and Kindliness

We have been supplied by the B.B.C. with a striking broadcast message from a German officer taken prisoner in Southland, early in the “Spartan” campaign, which speaks for itself. So sincere is its tone that we reproduce it in full:—

“MY name is Willi Freűndsberg. I want to tell my friends in the Fatherland something of my life in Southland since I was taken prisoner early in this campaign.
     “It is all so different here from what I imagined—from what we had been taught. It is not that I like them, these English, but I do not hate them any more—how can you hate men who give you a football to play with and make you like playing with it?
     “They’ve made me feel as though I were a man again, and now, after a month, I am wondering, at the age of 34, whether I am not just beginning to grow up.
A NEW VISION
     “Let me try to explain. It is as though a heavy weight of ideas had fallen away from me. My eyes I can use as I please, to see the crows gathering together in the tree-tops to talk about their nesting, and I can listen, and understand—how well I have come to understand—the cheerful village butcher boy whistling on his delivery round, and the fervent singing of a Salvation Army band on the village green on a Sunday afternoon
     “I don’t mean I didn’t have the chance to see and hear some of these things at home. But where were my senses then? Were they anaesthetised? Were they, perhaps, so cluttered with incoming influences that they had no chance to perform their free functions?
     “It is not for me to say. All I know is that in these lovely hills, with their golden stone villages, the Springtime. is no less fair than at home in our Bavarian mountains
     “The bluebells are just as blue and the winter wheat is even more forward, I expect, than is with vou.
CHANGING VIEW
     “But here is the difference between our way of life and yours—yes. I mean that, because it is already becoming my way of life.
     “Here we don’t live so intensely nor so intensively, as you do. We don’t see everything as snow white or jet black. A man can have ideas of his own, and can talk about them, without being labelled in my mind immediately as a fool or a traitor
     “That, I suppose, is the difference between a country that is free and one of self-imposed slavery.”
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LUCKY DONNELL

     Robert Donnell is a lucky man. He is one of the rare persons who is able to continue his peace-time occupation while serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
     Studying at Hart House, Toronto, and in 1938, Mechlin, in Belgium, he was a clever carillonneur when war broke out. He is the only professional carillonneur in Canada and to-day is doing manuscript work for the R.C.A.F. band.
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Tank Crews Chasing an Elusive Foe

BREAKING-IN bucking broncos and outwitting coyotes in Canada’s wide- open Western country is child’s play compared to rough-riding in a heavy tank over the mine-infested terrain of Eastland.
     Ask Major H. Hawes, who lives on a ranch in Alberta, and who now commands one of Canada’s squadrons of heavily armoured, mechanised “horses.”
     An “Advance Post” correspondent was permitted to ride in one of the tanks of Major Hawes’ squadron, as the steel monsters chased the fleeing enemy.
     The tank in which the correspondent rode was commanded by Troop Commander Lieut. Len. S. Payne, of Toronto, Ontario. The tank crew was made up of Tpr. N. S. Dow, also of Toronto, who was driving the tank; Tpr. R. D. (Bob) Craig, of Lougheed, Alberta, the gunner; Tpr. Doug. Barry, of Edmonton, Alberta, the wireless operator, and Tpr. Jock Morrice, of Winnipeg, Manitoba, the bow-gunner.
THE BAIT REFUSED
     Your correspondent rode in the bow-gunner “hole” and watched the entire battle between the Allied tanks and the enemies’ lighter vehicles.
     It was quite evident that the enemy was attempting to lure the tanks into a trap. His light reconnaissance armoured cars stopped long enough to offer some resistance, and then fled to take up new positions.
     But the wily Canadians did not rise to the bait. They inflicted a considerable amount of damage on the enemy forces, and then waited patiently while their own reconnaissance units went forward to seek out the enemy’s strength.
     On one occasion the tank men missed catching the enemy by only a few minutes. The armoured columns of the victorious Allied Army were endeavouring to obtain a point of vantage on some high ground, and reconnaissance indicated that an enemy armoured column was evidently heading for the same goal.
     The Allied force reached the high ground first and waited for the enemy to approach. He, however, fled when he saw that the Allied force had beaten him to his place.
     Grimy-faced, their eyes showing lack of sleep, the tank crews are continuing their endless task of chasing the enemy to manoeuvre him into a spot from which he cannot flee and where he will have to stand and do battle.
     Since the Allied drive against the enemy in Eastland began nearly a fortnight ago, the tank men have been living a hand-to-mouth existence. They have been eating and sleeping when they got the chance. There is seldom opportunity to cook rations. Their relentless pursuit of the enemy has left them time for nothing but fighting or seeking fights.
     But even though they’re tired physically the men in the tanks are alert mentally and their high spirits keep them going.
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Ice Hockey
CALGARY ARMY’S WIN

     In the first of a best-of-five series final Calgary Army beat Calgary R.C.A.F.s 4—2 on Wednesday night in the Alberta League.
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OUR TANKS SET OUT FOR A DAY’S HUNTING
[photograph captioned:] “O.K. Let’s go!” Tanks of McNaughton’s Army prepare to advance. These boys are now singing a new song, “Deep in the heart of Eastland.”
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ENEMY RECORDING VAN MYSTERY
Grim Story of Terrorised Chiltern Village
(Exclusive to “Advance Post”)

IT is now known that a recording van is operating with the enemy. Its purpose is not clear, but the following strange account has reached us from one of the B.B.C. observers with the British Army:
     “I’ve just come through Yarnell Efford, in the Chilterns, and I’ve had such a strange and unpleasant experience that I want ‘Advance Post’ to have the details while they are still fresh in my mind
     “Do any of you, I wonder, know Yarnell Efford? If so, you’ll remember it as a tiny village of about 200—300 inhabitants. You’ll remember the long village street—with the ‘Efford Arms’ and a school on one side, and opposite it the church and vicarage.
     “You’ll remember those physical features of the village all right—but there’s something that you can’t know about yet—and that’s the change that has come over the people of that little village—at least over those of them that are still left.
     “Let me tell you exactly what happened. We were driving slowly down the village street and decided to stop for a moment at the ‘Efford Arms.’
     “We wanted to telephone from there to let our Headquarters know where we’d got to—to tell them, in fact, that we were close on the heels of the enemy and that every village we’d gone through had been giving us a tumultuous welcome.
GHASTLY EFFECT
     “We drew up and I got out. I was carrying our microphone on a hand grip and lead, because I had half a mind to see whether any of the local inhabitants might like to give us a story.
     “Alongside the little hotel was the school, and there in the playground I saw some wan-looking children playing, or pretending to play, at ‘tag’ or some such game.
     “I felt sorry for them. They’d evidently been having a rough time of it, and I thought I might be able to cheer them up by showing them our recording gear.
     “So I called to them and held out the microphone for their inspection. The effect was startling. Instead of showing interest in a new toy, they showed I a ghastly familiarity.
     “Two of the elder girls turned and ran out of the playground screaming; some ones—ranged themselves like automatons in a straight line and began chanting ‘Heil Hitler! Heil Hitler!’
     “One poor little crippled girl —she was dark and sallow, slightly Jewish-looking perhaps—crumpled up on the playground, her wooden crutch rattling sharply on the asphalt.
DRAMATIC MOMENT
     “For a moment I thought I might be dreaming—and after the hard days we’d been through, I might well have fallen asleep where I stood.
     “But I looked round and assured myself of my surroundings, and there in the porch of the church opposite stood the Vicar. His face was as pale as his starched clerical collar. He looked, in fact, as though he’d risen from one of the nearby graves, freshly dug amongst the snowdrops.
     “He didn’t move and behind me the children went on chanting their ‘Heil Hitler’ steadily and meaninglessly.
     “Then I turned sharply at the sound of a scream behind ne. There at one of the school windows was a woman. No doubt she was the local schoolmistress—though her disordered appearance belied it.
     “All at once I realised that she was trying to say something to me, but her voice was so strangled and harsh that I could scarcely pick out the words.
     “Then in a flash I realised what it was she was trying to say. It was this: ‘I will broadcast—I will broadcast—if only you will spare these innocent children.
THESE POOR INNOCENTS
     “This was too much for me, but our conducting officer was not at a loss—he never is. He ran forward shouting—‘We’re Englishmen—you needn’t be afraid of us.'
     “Then I realised. A broadcasting van had already passed that way—and evidently a Nazi one.
     “We tried to discover what had happened—but that ghastly story can never be told. The Vicar would only stand there and repeat. ‘All the prayers that have been offered Sunday by Sunday in that church for 700 years can never wash out the crime that has been committed—the wrong that has been done to these poor innocents.’
     “Nothing that we could do or say would bring back smiles to those drawn faces in Yarnell Efford—and so we moved on with hearts as heavy almost as those we left behind.”
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LUXURY!
[photograph captioned:] Pte. Cliff Leach, R.C.A.S.C., is a lucky Spartan. His folks back in Ottawa will be glad to see he is getting “a nice hot meal.”
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Bearers Must Be Same Height

     Being a stretcher-bearer is not such an easy task as might be imagined A lot depends on the weight of the patient.
     The first thing is to get a squad of four men all about the same height. This is essential as, if one man in the squad is very much taller or smaller than the others, it will prove extremely uncomfortable for the patient.
     Knowledge of elementary nursing is essential in the case of patients suffering from shock, etc.,
     Recruits soon learn that their shoulders become extremely tender after a few carries, unless a thick pad is provided for them. If carriage is carried on continuously, this will wear off as the shoulders become hardened to the weight of the stretchers.
     If you should become a casualty and have to be carried a long distance over hard country, do not curse the bearers too much They are efficient and will have you in the hands of the M.O. in the minimum possible time.
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PASS IT ROUND, CHAPS!

Only two can read over your shoulder at once.
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Canadians Had to be Diplomats
Arrested Paratroops Were Westlanders!

CANADIAN soldiers can show themselves excellent diplomats, as well as hardy and spirited fighters when the occasion demands.
     Two men of a Canadian tank crew, armed with a light machine-gun and a “Tommy” gun, chased paratroopers dressed in strange uniforms.
     After firing several bursts at the paratroopers, who had just landed from a troop-carrying plane and who were still disorganised, the two men, Tprs. B. Robertson, of Ottawa, and Harold Stepens, of St. John, N.B., captured the paratroopers.
     But, following the capture, they had to do some apologising and release their prisoners, who proved to be members of a neutral Westland force on manoeuvres.
     The Westland paratroopers were turned over to Southland authorities, and it is believed that they have since been allowed their freedom to return to their native land.
     The diplomatic manner in which the Canadians handled the situation left nothing to be desired.
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Capture de Trois Mille Allemands
Officiers superieurs faits prisonniers. — Victorieux dans l’air.

VOICI le communiquè officiel émis par les quartiers-généraux de notre seconde armée hier:
     Sur la côte d’Eastland, rien de nouveau.
     Nos troupes ont repoussé l’ennemi jusqu’à la ligne qui va de Watling Street au Grand Union Canal, où il se retranchera vraisemblablement. La bataille fait rage. Des éléments britanniques ont franchi la rivière Ousel s’emparant de plusiers positions stratégiques.
     Hier, nous avons fait environ 3,000 prisonniers, dont plusiers officiers supérieurs et officiers d’état-major. Un important matériel de combat a aussi été capturé.
     Dans le secteur nord, dans la région de Northampton et de Towcester, les forces blindées britanniques ont pris contact avec l’ennemi.
     Avant-hier, en plus d’opérations de reconnaissance au-dessus des positions avancées de l’ennemi, notre aviation s’est attaquée à des aérodromes, à des colonnes motorisées et à des tanks.
     Le matin, nos avions de chasse ont attaqué en rase-mottes des aérodromes de bombardiers légers. Plus tard, en mission défensive au-dessus de nos colonnes, nos patrouilles ont abbatu trois avions de chasse ennemis qui harcelaient les colonnes britanniques è basse altitude, et en ont probablement détruit d’autres. Sur la route, entre Newport Pagnell et Buckingham, nos aviateurs ont causé des dommages considérables a un convoi motorisé, et nos bombardiers ont laissé tomber une cataracte d’explosifs sur une concentration de chars d’assaut. On estime que nombre de véhicules ennemis ont ainsi été mis hors d’usage ou détruits.
     Au cours de la journée, l’aviation ennemie a tenté de s’attaquer à l’un de nos champs d’aviation alors que nos avions de chasse stationnaient. Brusquement, notre d.c.a. se mit à tonner, abbattant six des intrus. Aussitôt, nos avions de chasse décollèrent et portèront des coups efficaces sur les bases d’où les bombardiers ennemis s’etaient envolés.
     Au cours de la journée, nous avons détruit onze appareils ennemis, dont six par la d.c.a., et nous avons perdu trois avions de chasse.
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[bottom left corner of page:] Printed by the OXFORD TIMES, LTD the Newspaper House, Oxford, and published by the Director of Public Relations, War Office.