"A FUNNY WAR"

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 94, 29 November 1939, Page 2

"A FUNNY WAR"

EFFECTIVE BLOCKADE MEANS ALLIED VICTORY (By H. Leonard Heatley) There are people who say that 'this is a funny war.' With memories of the Great Wa-. when large-

scale offensives were the order of the day, and casualty lists were in proportion, they regard the waiting tactics adopted in the present conflict with some bewilderment. "When are the Allies going to attack," they say. "When are the Allies going to do something." The Allies are doing something. An absolute blockade of Germany is the most powerful wcaoon the Allies possess. An anny cannot light on an em ply stomach, and that is what the German Army will shortly be asked to do. When Kerr Hitler came to power he assured the German people that their nation had not been defeated but had merely effected a strategical retreat. This, of course, renewed the broken pride of the Germans. They arc a military-minded people. Herr Hitler, however, was careful to explain that this 'strategical retirement' was made necessary by n 'stabbing in the back by the enemies of the State.' Pangs of Hunger. Actually, it was the blockade of Germany which resulted in the Allied victory. It became impossible to procure food in Germany and this led to what was described by General von Metzsch as 'intellectual disintegration. This officer, who was formerly Inspector-General of the German Army training department, accepted the story propagated by the Nazis, that they had been 'stabbed in the back.' Of a different tj-pe was General Marx, who opposed these ideas and who once wrote: "Let us drop the legend that the Army was stabbed in the back. The German Army of 1918 went to pieces because, when their food supplies were exhausted, the troops could no longer advance An offensive is not broken because it misses it's aim or because the centre of gravity of the battle has shifted. Fangs of hunger the real cause of the breakdown. Shortage of food slowly but relentlessly undermined the spirit of the troops from the autumn of 1915 onwards. ..." State of War for Years.

Ever since Hitler came to power in Germany, that nation, though not actually at war, has encountered serious difficulties. The Nazis, in preparation for the day they saw ahead, have stored foodstuffs in an endeavour to strengthen the position In the last few years there has been a rationing of meat, butter, eggs, fats, etc. This means that for the last three years at least the people of Germany have existed in a state of war, as far as the procuring of food is concerned. No doubt that period will lessen the length of the present struggle.

A blockade ol Germany, it is hoped by the Allied Command, will mean almost a bloodless war. There will be casualties but, though it is early to predict, they will not be comparable with the Great War. Resistance to German penetrative attempts on the Western Front and through the neutral countries bordering the Maginot Line and the repulsing of the enemy's attempts to conquer by air, will still leave the stranglehold of the blockade, and that in time, will cause among the German people what General von Metzsch describes as: "Those popular outbreaks which cannot be allowed for in advance by any analysis, however careful."