A SUMMARY OF THE SITUATION

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 281, 22 August 1940, Page 10

A SUMMARY OF THE SITUATION

In another notable speech Mr. Churchill has reviewed Britain’s progress toward victory and yet again declared that whether the road be long or short, rough or smooth, Britain means to reach het journey’s end. “Our own and other nations, including our enemies,” says the “Daily Mail,” “will recognize in Mr. Churchill’s speech a transition from days of anxiety to days of confidence. It rings with authentic promise of assault and victory.”

Mr. Churchill devoted a considerable part of his speech to discussing aspects of air warfare. On this subject the Secretary ot State for Air, Sir Archibald Sinclair, has announced that Britain has now more fighter squadrons ready for action than ever before and is also strengthening her bomber forces. The British success in frustrating the mass German attacks was explained, he said, by the great efficiency of the system of defence. “Wherever instruments of cruelty and oppression are forged,’’ he said, “the strong arm of the R.A.F. will reach out —is reaching out this very night—so that we shall break the fetters with which. Hitler seeks to bind the peoples of Europe.” Another Minister to speak of the task ahead of the nation was Lord Halifax, who said that none in Britain sought to destroy Germany or deprive her of her legitimate place in Europe. Equally, all were determined that Germany should not destroy Britain or the freedom of Europe and agreed that it was Britain’s duty to continue the battle till she was able to see a just peace established. Britons, he said, had no doubt of their ability to reach their goal. Again on Tuesday German air activity over Britain was slight, with British operations against enemy objectives as lively as ever. It is reported that Germany has decided extensively to reorganize her A.R.P. system because British attacks, “made contrary to international law,” have meant that the people of west and north Germany have suffered heavily.

It is revealed that British aircraft are still systematically mining the Baltic, that they have flown more than 600,000 miles on these tasks, and that in only two of the various minefields laid 12 Nazi ships have been sunk' and others badly damaged. A dispatch from the “Daily Mail’s” Belgrade correspondent suggests that Germany is anxious about her plans in the^ Balkans. 1 his correspondent reports that Hungary has been told to keep the talks with Rumania alive at all costs and that the sudden cessation oi Italian attacks on Greece was.the result of instructions to Italy' to step on the soft-pedal. The Germans are said to be anxious about flicresult of the aerial warfare over Britain, the lateness of the Balkan harvest and Russian policy in the Balkans. It appears virtually certain that Britain will lease to the United States sites for naval and air bases in the West Indies and Newfoundland.