BRITAIN ASTIR

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 70, 23 March 1945, Page 5

BRITAIN ASTIR

OFFENSIVE AWAITED "Will Be Last Of Amphibious Operations" N.Z.P.A. Speciali Correspondent Rec. 10.30 a.m. LONDON, March 22. This is the period of the "Watch on the Rhine." What amounts to the mopping up of Germans by General Patton's Third Army, great victory as it is, is somewhat overshadowed in the public's mind here by the pre-D day atmosphere which is reported to be pervading FieldMarshal Montgomery's front. Recent air operations in that, theatre all smack of the coming offensive, while from German sources come statements that'it is likely to begin at any hour now and that airborne landings are also expected. When it does begin it will be the last of the amphibious operations which began with North Africa and continued with Sicily, Italy and Normandy. New Zealand is represented in the offensive on the air side by the New Zealand Tempest Squadron and by numerous airmen in the Second Tactical Air Force. Expectancy, like Spring, is in the air and it is hoped that the weather for once will favour the Allied attack. Just how long the war has been delayed and how many lives have been lost by fickle weather during previous operations on the Continent would be interesting to know. But now finer days are here and over 13 hours of daylight. Diversions Prom War News In Britain there have been many diversions from the war news recently. The possibility of the meat ration of 1/2 per lb per person weekly being cut has perhaps been one of the chief interests to the man in the street this week. This and what is called the "slander" from America that Britain's stocks are 100 times greater than they are and have been deliberately inflated for selfish and political purposes, and also the allegation that by hoarding stocks of food Britain has allowed liberated countries to go unnecessarily hungry, have caused a good deal of comment. The Minister of Food, Colonel Llewellin, is doing his utmost to prevent a cut in the ration, but pending negotiations in Washington, he is not yet able to give a pledge. Mr. Churchill's facts about food stocks, given in the House of Com- 1 mons, have exposed the two slanders and given the true position, namely, that stocks are now 6,000,000 tons (not 700,000,000 tons, as stated in America) and will be reduced to 4,750,000 tons by sending aid to liberated countries in the coming three months. The incident, particularly as the meat ration is higher in America than in Britain, has caused some feeling. Feeling has also been roused recently by the trial of the Goughs, man and wife, who were charged with the manslaughter of a boy aged 13 years, who had been placed in their care. The husband was found guilty and sentenced to six years' imprisonment while the wife was found not guilty of manslaughter, j but on another count was sentenced ! to six months' imprisonment. The nightmare of the existence of this boy and his young brother at the hands of the brutal farmer roused and disgusted public opinion and there are demands that the whole system relating to the position of such children should be thoroughly investigated.