WAR CAMPAIGN

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20151, 22 January 1940, Page 7

WAR CAMPAIGN

NAZI’S ONLY HOPE EARLY OFFENSIVE OPPORTUNITY LOST “HESITANCY OF BULLY” HALIFAX’S COMMENT (Eire. Tel. Copyright—Unitrnl Proas Assn.) tßecd. Jan. 22, 9 a.m.) LONDON, Jan. 21. In the course of his speech at Leeds, the Foreign Secretary, Viscount Halifax, discussed the progress of the war campaigns. He said that Germany’s only chance of winning the war was by cashing in quickly on the advantage they possessed through long preparation, fortifications in the west, air strength and readiness to go to all lengths in waging war at sea. “Yet Germany hesitated to launch this big offensive on land or in the air—not certainly, I think, because of any tender feelings for you and me, but simply for the reason that makes a bully hesitate to hit someone who may hit him back.”

The allies, for their part, had made good use of the respite. British and French co-operation were assured in agreements which were unprecedented. On land the French Army stood as ever the bastion of Western civilisation. Unity of command was arranged from the outset.

Meanwhile, the Germans had been concentrating their efforts on forms of warfare they had made particularly, their own —indiscriminate warfare at sea against British, Allied and neutral shipping, by unrestricted use of the submarine and the mine. But, despite every breach of international law, Germany had gained astonishingly little. Under the convoy system something like 6000 ships had been convoyed to the end of December with the loss of only 12 —one in 500.

German Shipping Losses

The oceans of the world have been swept clear of German ships, and 140,000 tons had run aground or been scuttled. Conscious of the failure of l the U-boat, Germany had resorted to the mine and, in doing so, showed even more callous indifference than before to the lives of non-combatant passengers and crew.

“I am happy to be able to tell you that measures have been adopted and daily are being developed which the Admiralty is confident will effectively cope with the new menace,” he said. Referring to contraband control, Viscount Halifax said that in the first two months of the war, German imports from the three countries whose trade had to cross the Atlantic fell to 7 per cent of the figures for the same months of 1938. Even from the two neighbouring countries inside the contraband belt, German imports were only slightly over half those in the same period of 1938. She was making great efforts to increase her trade with the Balkans, Scandinavia, and Russia, but her capacity to export to those countries rested in a large measure on seaborne supplies, which the allies were steadily and ; increasingly denying to her. Build Instead of Destroy “I cannot doubt that factors which will ultimately prove decisive are on our side,” continued Viscount Halifax. “If that were so, at what kind of peace did Britain aim? That had been clearly defined by the Prime Minister, Mr. Neville Chamberlain. “We must insist upon the restoration of liberty 1 to small, nations which Germany has cruelly deprived of it, and profiting, as I hope, by the experience of the past, we shall do our utmost to secure Europe from a repetition' of this disaster. ,

“We seek nothing for ourselves. We have said publicly that if we can once again feel secure that the German Government would respect its undertakings and honestly co-operate in trying to build instead of destroy European peace upon terms of ‘live and let live’ for all nations, we should not seek any vindictive peace or one which would deny Germany her rightful place among the nations. The only reason why peace cannot be made 1 to-morrow is that the German Government has as yet given no evidence! of its readiness to repair the damage which it has inflicted upon its weaker neighbours or of its capacity to convince the world that any pledge to which it may subscribe is" worth more than the paper upon which it is written.”