STORMING BRITAIN

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 111, 4 February 1941, Page 7

STORMING BRITAIN

Hitler’s Advantages And Difficulties TWO GREAT HURDLES LONDON, February 2. Discussing the possible invasion of Britain, a London commentator said that the freedom from night bombing which Britain ha'd enjoyed for the past 10 or 12 days might be a lull before an Invasion attempt. What were the Germans’ chances? It would be criminal and foolish and irresponsible not to recognize that the Germans enjoyed great advantages for such a project. It would be even more foolish to be frightened by those advantages. First, he said, the Germans had to overcome the gigantic difficulties of transport. It would be useless to send a few troops. To land 100,006 men within an hour would require about 4000 troop-carrying planes, while to land 250,000 in tlie same period they would require some 10,000 planes. If 250,000 men came by sea in barges carrying 100 men each, 2500 small craft would be needed, and they could not cross the Channel at Dover, where it was narrowest, in much less than two and a half hours. Heavy equipment, tanks, stores, and supplies for such a force would absorb another large fleet. Transport was the first hurdle the Germans must take successfully. British resistance was the second hurdle. “We shall fight to begin with in the air,” .said the speaker. “The Royal Air Force is certainly not weaker than it was last autumn when it sent the German planes crashing in hundred'’ and drove tlie survivors back across the Channel. Nevertheless, the'-number of planes the Germans must throw in will be so vast that every machine sent to us from across the Atlantic will play a vital part in striking this first blow at the would-be invader. The Royal Navy will fight on and under the sea. We shall fight on lan'd—if the Germans get here. Including the Home Guard, about 4,000,000 men thoroughly trained and well equipped stand ready in this island to meet and destroy any invaders.”

RIVER PLATE TRADE BLOC Draft Convention Approved MONTEVIDEO, February .1. The River Plate Economic Conference has approved a draft convention on the lines of a live-Power bloc to nullify the most-favoured nation treaties with the United States and Great Britain, thus establishing a new principle in Inter-American economic relations. [The proposal is to weld Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Bolivia and Paraguay into an economic bloc for the exchange of trade concessions which could be granted to no other nations. It is aimed chiefly to assist, landlocked Bolivia and Paraguay. In view of the British protest against the Customs union agreement between Argentina anil Brazil several months ago, particular significance is attached to the proposal. I