The Bay of Plenty Times SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17. 1942 CHURCHILL'S FIGHTING SPEECH

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 13774, 17 October 1942, Page 2

The Bay of Plenty Times SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17. 1942 CHURCHILL'S FIGHTING SPEECH

On receiving the freedom of the City of Edinburgh. Mr Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of Britain, made a fighting speech, such a speech as is most encouraging alike to the British nation and the Allied countries. Actually what Mr Churchill did was to hold up the scales of the war and show the positions of the Allies and the Axis. The scales show a definite dip in favour of the Allied nations. Until .Japan entered the war on December i last year, the Allies held the supremacy of the sea. Japan made a difference, but the combined actions in the Coral Sea. and oft: Midway Island reduced the Japanese strength, and now it is claimed that the American Fleet, plus Australian and British warships in the Pacific, are equal in strength, if not superior, to the naval forces of Japan in the Pacific. Mr Churchill also disclosed that the Allied air strength is superior to that of Germany. Italy and Japan combined and he also disclosed the important fact that the U-boat menace is being controlled. The sinkings of Allied shipping in August and September was substantially lower than in previous months, and very much lower than the new tonnage being put into the water by Britain, the United States and Canada. This is decidedly encouraging. The Allies must be definitely superior on the sea and in the air before they can hope to make any headway with their land forces, who must be the final arbiters of the war. Victory will not come entirely through the navy or entirely through air power, but these two arms prepare the way for the soldier to assault, and give the finishing touches to the war. The Allies command the sea, and in the Battle of the Atlantic against the U-boats they are making definite headway. The Allies have strong fleets of U-boat chasers operating, and are steadily gaining the upper hand. One of the most important war weapons of the Allies is shipping. The long sea lines of communication must be kept open for the transport of supplies and troops and the Allies conld not venture on the offensive without making sure these lines of communication were safe. The Germans are losing submarines at sea, also submarines under construction, and this must tell.

We have had convincing demonstrations that the Allies hold the supremacy in the air. Germany fully realises this and the excuse that Germany needs her air force for operations in Russia, is no excuse at all but an admission of defeat. In the daylight aerial attack on Lille in which over 100 American Flying Fortresses and over 500 Allied fighting machines took part, the Germans lost over 105 machines, while the loss on the Allied side was only four bombers. In the Western Desert there can be no question as to the Allied air superiority. Tobruk has been so thoroughly bombed that the Germans are unable to use it as a supply base. Germany would, if she could, send air reinforcements to the Western Desert. She is unable to do so for she has not the machines to spare. The desert air force has been so very active in recent weeks that we may expect to see a flare up in land fighting, probably early next month. The Japanese are running short of shipping and of aeroplanes. Her navy is said to be still formidable, which is very likely, but the Japanese have nursed their navy in cold store, using only a few warships in convoy service. Japan has lost heavily in merchant shipping and that is beginning to have an effect on her strategy. She is no longer formidable in the air and that has been proved at Rabaul, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Burma. The turn of the tide is now running strongly in favour of the Allies, and if all goes well during the next three or four months, victory will be in sight.