BRITAIN'S EFFORT

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 221, 18 September 1942, Page 3

BRITAIN'S EFFORT

Half Population Engaged On War Weapons QUALITY OF TANKS GOOD British Official Wireless Rec. 1 p.m. RUGBY, this day. Fifty-five per cent of the employable population of Britain is engaged on Government work for making weapons of war and their adjuncts, said Mr. Oliver Lyttelton, at Leeds. Those not engaged directly in the munition trade are keeping the life of the country going, he added. Declaring that the quality of weapons Britain was producing was first-rate, Mr. Lyttelton contended that Britishmade artillery compared more than favourably with that of other nations, as did our planes. So far as our tanks were concerned, a great deal of nonsense had been talked about them, but the opinion of one of our Russian Allies was interesting. Guards-Major Anotali Raftopule, Hero of the Soviet Union, was a former tractor driver who gained fame in the war as one of the best Soviet tank men. He stated that at present much attention was being devoted in Soviet schools to the study of English tanks, whose qualities he considered excellent. The same opinion was expressed by his friends at the front.