"English, French Propaganda Plays Up Defeats," Says Earle

"English and French propaganda tries to play up the defeats of the Allies in order to gain American sympathy for the democracies"; Hubert P. Earle '41 stated yesterday.

Son of ex-Governor Earle of Pennsylvania, he has just written a book on his European experiences during the past Summer.

Earle's book, "Blackout", will be published early in November by J. B. Lippincott Company. It reports his experiences in London during the pre-war flurry, in provincial France during the "war of nerves" and his observations in Germany at the peak of tension.

Earle fails to see why England and France did not attack Germany when Hitler attacked Poland. He thinks the U. S. will be able to keep out of the present conflict. "England and France have Germany in worst position ever in history", he says.

Traveled in Poland

The crisis had already started when Earle left Poland, but he says the war atmosphere increased the further he went from the immediate scene of action. From Warsaw to Paris to London, the war preparations became more and more evident.

In Poland Earle stayed at Ambassador Biddle's estate, which was rented from the Polish Ambassador in America, Count Potocki. Just two weeks after he left the estate the Russians entered this district. All the large estates were divided up and the land given to the peasants. Earle was in lots of air-raids. "My most scary moment," he says, "was the night we spent on the 'Washington' at Le Havre before sailing. We noticed that afternoon that about 100 yards from where the boat was lying on the dock, there was a small island with about 100 large oil tanks on it. One well aimed bomb would have finished us.

Air Raid at Sea

"As if this were not enough, an air raid alarm went off at 2 o'clock and German planes flew overhead. We were trapped helplessly on the boat. Fortunately some nearby English planes drove off the German raiders, but the incident certainly gave us a few disquieting moments."

Earle was quite impressed with the prowess of the French army, especially the African native troops. Besides machine guns, and all the implements of modern warfare, each Senegalese native carries his own knife to finish off the job.