INVASION OF THE CONTINENT

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23447, 30 September 1941, Page 7

INVASION OF THE CONTINENT

Canadian General’s Prediction ESSENTIAL MOVE TO BRING VICTORY (8.0. W.) RUGBY, September 28. The Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian Active Service Force (Lieu-tenant-General A. G. L. McNaughton) told visiting Canadian editors that there must be an invasion of the Continent to defeat Germany. He did not think that a proud, well-prgamsed nation could be brought to its knees with missiles alone. There was no better spot than Britain for an offensive along the coast of Europe from Gibraltar to Spitzbergen, but it was possible that the British offensive would not come until Germany attempted to invade Britain. Britain’s armoured divisions were a more powerful striking force than Germany’s panzer units, said General McNaughton. “Mechanisation in modern warfare eventually favours the democracies, not only on the side of industrial production, but also on the side of man-

power—the men who can be trained to run the machines of modern war. And that, of course, is the force of the present demand for men to man the ever-increasing output of machines,” said General McNaughton in an interview with Mr John Bird, editor of the “Winnipeg Tribune.” “General McNaughton declared flatly that the production of the United States, added to that of the Empire, can and will beat anything that Hitler could put out even with the aid of enslaved Europe,” states Mr Bird. “And he said another thing that sticks in the mind, particularly since the war has spread to Russia. Refusing to hint, even vaguely, at when, where, or how we are going to invade Europe, he nevertheless declared that ‘when the time and conditions are right, it (invasion) is not going to be so difficult as some people think.’” U.S. NEUTRALITY ACT Colonel Knox Galls For Repeal PROTECTION OF TRADE ROUTES WASHINGTON, September 28. The United States might become, at any moment, a belligerent, depending on the “will of our avowed enemies,” said the Secretary of the United States Navy (Colonel Frank Knox), writing in the "Foreign Commerce Weekly.” He added that it was imperative to take every necessary measure to preserve foreign commerce and the lives of merchant seamen from destruction by commerce raiders, Colonel Knox called for the repeal of the Neutrality Act and the protection of the country’s three chief ocean trade routes, which he listed as the North Atlantic route to Europe, the sea lanes southward to both coasts of South America, and those across the Pacific to Australia, the Netherlands East Indies, and China. THAILAND AND JAPAN “INVASION WILL BE RESISTED” FORMER U.S. MINISTER’S OPINION (Received September 29, 11.40 p.m.) HONOLULU, September 29. Mr Hugh Grant, formerly United States Minister in Bangkok, in an interview which he gave in Honolulu on his way home, declared: “Thailand will certainly resist a Japanese invasion, which is now unlikely because of the probability of Allied opposition.” A message from Manila reports that a traveller from Saigon said that Japanese troops were unable to stand the heat there. In the last nine weeks 600 troops had returned to Saigpn from the Thai border with tropical ailments. The traveller said there were only 23,000 Japanese in Indo-China, although Japan expected originally to have a garrison of at least 40,000 by August. JAPANESE DRIVE IN HUNAN CHINESE DENY LOSS OF CHANGSHA CONFLICTING REPORTS OF OFFENSIVE (Received September 29, 11 p.m.) LONDON, September 29. Reports of the Japanese offensive in the Hunan Province are conflicting. Tokyo yesterday claimed the capture of Changsha, the capital of the province, and the Domei News Agency says that the town was occupied yesterday afternoon. A spokesman in Chungking for the Chinese Army said Changsha was still in Chinese hands on Sunday night. A few Japanese broke into the city on Saturday night but were annihilated in bitter street fighting. The Japanese troops were being held several miles north of Changsha. The “Central China Daily News reported that a fierce new battle started on Saturday and was continuing on Sunday on the whole of the northern Hunan front Marshal Chiang Kai-shek’s troops are following their usual tactics of harassing the enemy’s flanks and rear, and claim t<? have captured several strategically important places in the rear of the Japanese advance, including an important station on the Canton-Hang-kow railway, and river crossings used bv the Japanese. ‘The Japanese South China Command announced that the Japanese were advancing into north Kwantung, with little Chinese resistance,

The Domei News Agency states that the successful conclusion of this advance has given the Japanese control of the entire length of the CantonHankow railway. It is believed the Japanese are planning their biggest offensive since the fall of Hankow aimed at severing south China in two sections lying east and west of the Canton-Haakow railway;'