NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 100, 24 October 1940, Page 12

NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

AID FROM AMERICA

WHAT HAS BEEN GIVEN

STILL MORE AHEAD

In waging the war against the !Axis Powers Britain depends largely on help from the United States. Most people know that ] the flow of military aircraft ( from American factories is ex- ] pected to help the Empire towards commanding the air next i year. But few people realise 1 what an impressive amount of 3 war material.has already crossed < the Atlantic to British ports. 3 Destroyers First. ] At the head of the list of this mate- , rial are the 50 over-age destroyers . which were recently exchanged for ( leases of bases in the Western ( Hemisphere. Tnese ships represented j a contribution towards the war effort of much greater value than their cost in terms of money. But they were s merely one item on a steadily length- ■, ening list. < Up to the beginning of this month Britain had placed orders for war ] material valued at about £500,000,000 < sterling in the United States. Of this approximately £125,000,000 worth has « already been delivered. The rate of i delivery is also being speeded up by ! various devices and by the next north- < crn spring the flow of weapons across « the Atlantic may be expected to be i a decisive factor. . £ Aeroplanes Sent. i Since the war began the United States has shipped some 3100 military < aeroplanes to Britain and France. Dur- 1 ing the critical days of May and June 1 every machine which could be spared was shipped, but in addition there is a constantly increasing flow from the ( great aircraft plants of the West. Much ' the larger part of the shipments in i the first half of this year went to ( France, but with the French surrender J in June, and the taking over of all ] Allied contracts in the United States ' by Britain, the shipments to the United Kingdom shot upwards. ' In July 225 planes were shipped, and j last month the total was said to be < about 250, without taking account of '<■ the machines sent to Canada and Aus- ' tralia. Next month Britain expects < to receive 266 American-built planes 1 and 1250 engines; by the late spring; , when things may begin to move again, > if they do not before then, the Ameri- 1 can deliveries should be something ] like 600 planes and by the end of the ' year they will be 1000 machines a ] month. Present deliveries, it is worth ' noting, are probably in excess of . French aeroplane production at Hie beginning of this year. Moreover, ' this month the first American multiengined bombers, opening up new prospects of distance raiding, will be arriving. Guns and Eifles. • However, though they receive the most attention, aeroplanes are really only part of the mountain of war material which has already been sent over the Atlantic. In June, far example, the United States immediately turned over to Britain its surplus stock of 80,000 Hotchkiss and Lewis machineguns, as well as 700 field guns, 500,000 j Lee-Enfield rifles anc 3 millions of ' rounds of ammunition. In the opin- ! ion of some British observers this I. prompt replacement of valuable mater- ; ial lost in France probably played an ! important role in preventing the Ger- . man attack. ' These emergency shipments alone amounted to 100,000 tons of material, enough to fill many big liners. But in addition Britain has been receiving ■ steel of all kinds, including; valuable scrap, at the rate of 1,000,000 tons a : month, vast quantities of machine-tools, • and , smaller shipments of chemicals. In July, the last month for which figures are available, war material sent to Britain was valued at 24/JOO.OOO dollars, and in the same month export , licences (necessary under the regulation of shipments of such material) were issued for 130,000.,000 dollars' worth additional. Enlistments Permittee^ Nor does the story end there. The American Red Cross has sent about 5,000,000 dollars' worth o/f clothing and medical supplies to British victims of air raids and other relief organisations have rushed ambulance:;, clothing, and other necessities to the British Isles. In the summer, whim pilots we're needed, Washington ruled that American volunteers were free to go to Canada and enlist so long as no recruiting took place in the United States and no oath of allegiamce was required In the next few months 172 American pilots enlisted in Canada. Last month also, a committee of the Senate favoured an alteration of the citizenship code to permit general war service by Americans without penalty • However, Britain ds looking for still greater aid. What she wants most of all is faster deliveries of fighter planes eS^ CIA^ the Curtis p-40 machines with Allison liquid-cooled engines. More -Flying-boats. She wants more flying-boats, especially the big Consolidated PBY boats now being built at San Diego which are superior in performance to the Short Sunderland flying-boats and could give invaluable assistance to the sea patrols. T3ie first deliveries of these are expected this northern autumn, but they are being made slowly, possibly only three or four a month. Britain hopes to obtain the release of some of these boats, if the United States will consent to take its own ■ deliveries later. In addition .Britain wants even more Lee-Enfield rifles—2so,ooo is the figure mentioned in the American Press. Next, she is: anxious to get motor-1 torpedo boats. The United States j would sell these craft, but the legal j obstacle has proved insurmountable. The Federal Attorney-General has ruled that under the existing law these ships cannot be sold. Use of American Fields. A little-Jaiown but most important thing which Britain is now seeking is reported to be permission to train Canadan pilots on American flying fields during the coming winter when some Canadian aerodromes will not be fit for use. There is no legal or political difficulty in this, in fact the re-cently-created joint defence board has paved the way for it and negotiations are said to be proceeding smoothly. If the arrangement is made, many young Empire pilots will train this year in Texas, Louisiana, and other | . States which are warm in the winter. In addition there has been some talk of releasing some American army pilots for service with the R.A.F. in order that they may gain experience from combat. The difficulty in the way of this (aside from the Neutrality Act) is that experienced pilots are expected to be needed to train the new air force which the United States is building. _ '•'> - j