COMMANDER IN CEYLON

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23589, 17 March 1942, Page 5

COMMANDER IN CEYLON

SIR GEOFFREY LAYTON APPOINTED (8.0. W.) RUGBY, March 15. In the present emergency the British Government has decided that Ceylon be placed under the supreme control of a service officer with the title “Com-mander-jn-Chief, Ceylon.” Vice-Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton has been selected for this appointment

and all naval, military, air, and civil authorities in the area will be subject to his direction. He will be responsible for ensuring that all measures necessary for the defence of Ceylon arc taken, and that military and civil measures are fully co-ordinated. Sir Geoffrey Layton was formerly Commander-in-Chief, China Station. He is aged 57 years. HITLER’S SPEECH . “ ONLY ONE END TO WAR” TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF ENEMY LONDON, March 15.In his speech at the annual ceremony in memory of the Germans killed m the last war, Hitler said: "Behind us is a year not only of th§ hardest battles in the world’s history, but also of the severest trials of our people. We had to face not only apparently unlimited masses of the enemy, but a winter such as has not been known for 40 years. “What is to come can only be easier than what is behind us. "Only 10-day do we realise the extent of the preparations of our enemy, but there is only one possible solution —to tight until victory is assured, and the enemy is destroyed. The German Army has been able to avoid the fate of Napoleon, and the summer will decide whether the tremendous loss of life among the Russians thrown into the fight .has been justified. "There can be only one end to the war—the total destruction of the enemy. The Bolsheviks, who could not defeat the German troops and our allies in one winter, will be apnihilatingly defeated in the coming summer. The Bolshevik colgrsps must be held at a remote distance in its definite frontiers. "While in the Far East the heroic Japanese nation, provoked, scorned, and economically strangled like the German and Italian peoples, is destroying the democratic-plutocratic 'oppressors in vast battles on land and s ea and in the air, here in Europe the ground is being prepared fpr the true independence i$C this continent, "How the rest of the world runs its life is a matter of indifference to the German people, but any attempt by a non-Continental Power to interfere in the internal affairs of Europe, and particularly of our people, must be stopped, “What sort of world Roosevelt chooses to live in is a matter of indifference to us, but his idea of exploiting Europe for his own requirements and overthrowing our world, which we love. wtjl not only fail, but will also collapse. ‘‘The French war guilt trial at Riom is characterised by the fact that those responsible for this war have not been mentioned in a single word in the proceedings. which merely deal with insufficient preparations tor the war. This mentality appears to us incomprehensible, but reveals, perhaps better than anything else, the causes of this war.” Hitler concluded: “May God give us strength to continue and carry out what duty demands of us.” Hitler spoke in the Zeughaus in Berlin. where captured Russian standards are reported to have been displayed. Later Hitler placed a wreath on the war memorial in the Unter den Linden and took the salute when picked battalions. preceded by 60 regimental colours, marched past.