HITTING BACK

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20254, 23 May 1940, Page 6

HITTING BACK

BLOW FOR BLOW ALLIED FORCES NO DEFINITE LINES MECHANISED WARFARE THRUSTS BY NAZIS MANY LOST PATROLS (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Reed. May 23, 1 0.m.) LONDON, May 22. “We are hitting back blow for blow and bomb for bomb.” This was the keynote of an authoritative broadcast from General Headquarters in the second of the thriceweekly British Broadcasting Corporation’s bulletins to the forces to-night. “The situation is still serious, but not desperate. “There is no actual position which can be described. There is no definite battle line. “It is not like the last war. It is not a fight at infantrymen pace, three miles an hour, but a fight at the fastest mechanical pace that can be devised. “There is no single front, but a dozen isolated fronts and a dozen different battles in progress. Open Warfare “The Germans are frequently reported many miles behind our lines. The presence of one mechanised unit in a village does not mean that the German lines run through the village. “This is open warfare. These mechanised units are only cavalry patrols. In many cases they are lost patrols."

The British Official Wireless service states that news both of the Belgian action on the Scheldt and the British Expeditionary Force attack in the region of Douai and Cambrai, is eagerly awaited in London. Responsible circles, however, discourage any expectation of early results of a decisive character. It is indeed emphasised that recovery from the effects of the German break through and the deep penetration towards the Channel ports of mechanised units must at the best be long and arduous.