Critical Period Ahead

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 27, 1 February 1941, Page 11

Critical Period Ahead

COL. KNOX'S PREJUIG»ION

LONDON, January 31. The latest prediction of a German attempt to invade Britain comes from Colonel Frank Knox, Secretary of the United States navy. Giving* evidence before the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate, in which he urged the passage of the Aid to Britain Bill, Colonel Knox declared that the United States Government had information that the Germans are now watching long-range weather forecasts for a period of anticipated good weather in which to launch an invasion of Britain. He said that certain menacing developments indicated that a very grave crisis would come within 60 or 90 days, and he added that^he feared the Germans might try to use gas on a big scale. Among the menacing developments dolonel Knox suggested was the bombing of industrial'centres as more effective than the indiscriminate bombing of London, and also the British need to find a more succeessful way of combating the submarine menace. « It would be wild fancy, he said, to believe~that a negotiated peace could bring stability to Europe. Speaking of German aeroplane production, he said there had been a lull in the last month or two-during which American and British factories had produced more planes than the German factories. That lull was due to a desperate German search for a new type of plane that would render obsolete all planes now in the air.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Cyril Newall also spoke of the prospects of invasion today. He said at a Press conference at Ottawa, which he has been visiting on his way to take up the position as GovernorGeneral of New Zealand: "I am riot sure whether Hitler will try a fling at invasion, but he will probably try again. To do that, he must control the air first. We gave him a good hiding last autumn, and will give him another and a better one this time.l' Sir Cyril Newall said that night bombing was on the verge of being beaten, thanks to the use of scientific instruments. He was certain that the British nightly bombing of Germany was hurting Hitler's industrial machine. "Don't worry about the British," he said; "they won't crack." He paid a warm tribute to the Royal Air Force. Sir Cyril Newall told the Canadian Press that Britain needed every ounce of assistance that the American continent could give to ensure a British victory. "Britain," he added, "cannot be defeated." He also made reference to the King and Queen, stating that they were showing a fine example to their subjects by their conduct during the present crisis. I' In ' his opinion, Mr. Winston Churchill was one of the greatest figures in history.