NAZIS’ CHANCES OF VICTORY

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23482, 10 November 1941, Page 6

NAZIS’ CHANCES OF VICTORY

BIG INCREASE NEEDED IN PRODUCTION

RESOURCES AT DISPOSAL OF ALLIES

(8.0. W.) RUGBY, November 7. Speaking in London, the Free French leader, General de Gaulle, said: “If Germany is able to bring to bear in the near future an air force,’armoured divisions, and a fleet twice.or three times the size of those she now has at her disposal, it would then be possible to imagine that she might snatch the only kind of victory which would be worth anything—final victory. But we do not in any way foresee the probability of such an increase. “Several months have already passed since the German war industry attained its maximum output, since the Reich mobilised all its possible manpower and drew upon the armaments factories for everything they could provide on land, on the sea, and in the, air. But the state in which the enemy found a great many mines and factories, various difficulties, and the prolonged delays necessitated by the adaptation of industries to arbi-trarily-imposed conditions, and, in short, the indifferent output of recalcitrant labour, lead us to believe that the enemy could not derive more than a mere contribution from his conquests without a long and peaceful period of organisation.” The first condition of victorious action in the present war, he said, was the production of tanks, aeroplanes, and ships. General de Gaulle went on: “From the moment that the free peoples have at their disposal a sufficient superiority by way of tanks and aircraft, as they already have in ships, there will be no doubt as to their victory. Gigantic Effort Necessary “In this war the secret of victory is henceforward public property, and it can be defined by the simplest child in the street, as well as by the statesmen or the army leader. Most certainly, a gigantic effort is necessary for us to have at least enough tanks and aeroplanes, as well as a sufficient number of those articles, installations, and accessories which will enable proper use to be made of all these tanks and aeroplanes. “If we estimate the extent of the battle zones on land, on the sea, and in the air where fighting is now going on, as well as those where some day men will have to go into action in Europe. Africa, and Asia, if we gauge the bulk of the means which our enemies already dispose or may dispose, and lastly, if we take into account their central position, which is much more favourable for rapid, concentrations of effort than that of the free peoples, separated by immense distances, we are led to believe that we will need such quantities of material as would once have been considered astronomical, buti which are only commonplace when compared with the area involved, the issue at stake, and the possibilties. Production of Materials “It will perhaps be an action of 100.000 tanks, combined with that of 100.000 aeroplanes and supplied by 50,000,000 tons of shipping, which will cause the enemy mechanised system to crumble, and with it the whole edifice of German tyranny. It is obvious that such an effort of production is within the realms of possibility for the group of nations which still possess a vast majority of the world's resources. "Let us take as a basis the production figures for the principal war materials in. 1938. There is no doubt that as far as iron and aluminium are concerned the balance is practically equal. But America, the British Empire, and that part of Russia which ha? escaped invasion produced 260,000,000 tons /of oil in 1938 as against' 9,000,000 produced by the Axis Powers and countries subjected to them. • The figures for nickel were 110,000 tons, as against 3000; for tin, 2,000,000, as against 20,000; for copper, 2,000,000, as against 190,000; for rubber, 1,000,000, as against nothing; and for cotton, millions of tons, as against nothing. "The capacity of the plants in the countries which are still free is at least 100 per cent, greater. The number of skilled workmen is more than twice as great. As for unskilled labour, our resources are practically inexhaustible. In short, if by some extraordinary chance the free peoples refrained from crushing Hitler, they would be like a giant who prefers to submit to a dwarf rather than vo stand erect.”

NORWEGIAN MARITIME COURT

ESTABLISHMENT IN BRITAIN

LONDON, November 7. / The Lord Chancellor (Lord Simon), speaking on the occasion of the establishment of the Norwegian Maritime Court in the United Kingdom, said: “We do not regard the arrangement as a favour conferred upon exiles driven to take temporary refuge in our island, but as a piece of co-operation between peoples who both have the tradition of the sea in their blood, and who both, alike, will fight unflinfchingly for the preservation and restoration of freedom, whatever be the forces of tyranny arrayed against them. “It is indeed a most remarkable event, unparalleled in our long history, that we should encourage and rejoice over the setting up within our borders of a foreign court, staffed with foreign judges, to apply foreign law to their own seafaring people,” he added. “But in these d jys narrow and exclusive patriotism is not enough. There is a wider citizenship, common to all populations who are prepared to join in the struggle—heroic Greeks, brave Dutch and Jugoslavs, magnificent Russians, ahtT you Norse people—a comradeship which exists between all men and women who love liberty, and are determined to give their all to maintain it.”

TRAINING OF AIR CREWS

EMPIRE SCHEME TO CONTINUE

OTTAWA, November 7. The Minister for Air (Mr C. G. Power) told the House of Commons that the Empire air training scheme would be continued for the duration of the war, although it was originally iheduled to end in 1943. He was unable to say whether «New Zealand and Australia would participate after the original term expired. He added that he understood that they might want to organise their own training establishments. He said that if they withdrew British and Canadian airmen would still be trained in Canada.

AMERICAN TROOPS IN IRELAND

STATEMENT BY GERMAN RADIO

(Received November 9, 10.30 p.m.) LONDON, November 8. The German radio stated that American troops were being secretly sent to Northern Ireland. “Roosevelt wants this stronghold in order to take it over after the collapse of the British Emmie,” said the announcer.