THEN AND NOW

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 29, 3 August 1939, Page 8

THEN AND NOW

It is to the credit of mankind that the anniversary of the outbreak of war, if remembered, is not celebrated, but the coming of peace after war is commemorated with appropriate ceremony. Thus, Armistice Day each year marks the anniversary cf November 11, 1918, when the guns ceased firing after the incessant tumult of over four years of the greatest war in history. Yet not everybody will recall that tomorrow is the twenty-fifth anniversary of Britain's entry into that war on August 4, 1914. In no year since then has the danger of a similar and,

perhaps, even more destructive conflict loomed up so darkly before the peoples of the world. The Germans have not forgotten the day when the war broke out which ended in their defeat. At a time when it is reported that a million armed Germans are mobilised and another million ready, the military leaders, Marshal Goering and General yon Brauchitsch, seize the significant opportunity to refer, in the traditional manner of the ex-Kaiser's I "mailed fist," to the armed might of I Germany in the air and on land. I Marshal Goering is quoted as saying: j "I have done my best in past years to make the German air force the biggest and most powerful in the world. The air force stands ready today to carry out any of the Fuhrer's orders with lightning speed and unimaginable impact." What is the purpose of this vast mobilisation of armed force? There is not the remotest suggestion, despite all the German propaganda about "encirclement," that any nation is going to attack Germany. On the | other hand, there is every fear among neighbouring nations that Germany will attack first, "with lightning speed and unimaginable impact." It is against this that the other nations are preparing. Britain, secure from j attack by sea or land, is not so secure from attack by air. This time—or a little later—last year the danger was regarded as acute and may have influenced British policy in the Munich settlement. Since then the strength of Britain, in the full military sense, has increased enormously, and Mr. Chamberlain was able to tell the House of Commons this week that "we have made good use of our time [and our defences are indeed of a formidable character." Some indication of this is given in the cable news of important exercises of the Royal Air Force, following the mass flights over France, on a larger scale than ever before. In the manoeuvres, which include night operations, more than a thousand planes of different types will be engaged, with a ground staff of 20,000. There is also to be a "black-out" over twenty-seven counties, including London. The Reserve Fleet will be manned and will be reviewed by the King. Protection against air raids is also now far advanced, while the land forces have been raised to a strength unprecedented in peace time. The value of such preparation is twofold : it gives confidence in the defences of the country and it makes, any possible enemy hesitate to incur the risks of attack. It is thus not only a safeguard, if war comes, but also a deterrent against the making of war.