NO 'SQUEALING’

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20858, 10 August 1942, Page 3

NO 'SQUEALING’

MR. CURTIN’S PLEA ARMS SHORTAGE AUSTRALIAN FRONT OFFENSIVE STRATEGY (By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright.) (Special Australian Correspondent.) (11 a.m.) SYDNEY, Aug. 10. Australia will not ask for more war equipment at the expense of China, Russia and the Middle East. The Prime Minister, in making this declaration, said that Australia snared in common with other Allied nations the shortage of tanks, aeroplanes and ships. We cannot expect to be placed in a special sanctuary while those associated with us are having their territories ravaged,” he said. He asked Australians not to be “squealers.” Australia was one oi bastions from which eventually an Allied offensive would be launched. There would be no limit to the offensive that Australia would wage, escept the limit imposed by the shortage of war materials. Mr. Curtin defended the High Command against the. charges of inaction. He revealed that two Australian Imperial Force divisions had returned from the Middle East. Mr. Curtin said that allocations to the south-west Pacific theatre of war were not as large as originally planned, and he accepted full responsibility for that fact. Some equipment had not arrived because of shipping losses. Other equipment had been diverted to places where it was more urgently needed. Spontaneous Response “Shortly after Japan came into the war, a plain and frank statement directed to the United States was necessary,” Mr. Curtin said. He had made such a statement, not only from the standpoint of Australia’s own preservation but also to emphasise the importance of Australia as a bastion of democracy in the eastern war theatre. President Roosevelt and Mr. Winston Churchill had responded spontaneously and readily. “Are we now .to cry aloud, engage in uniformed criticism and stir up controversy among the Allies because it so happens that the enemy has stolen a march on us and thinks he can go where he likes, when he likes?” asked Mr. Curtin. “The enemy has had the initiative from the start because of long years of preparation, but we are unconquerable. Britain cannot be defeated. The United States will stay with us to the end. Russia will never agree to a separate peace and China will fight to the end. “This does not mean that it is not going to be a long and bloody struggle. It will be, but we will hold our trust while there is life left in us. “Our leadership is not inferior. It is fashionable to stunt about the genius of -General Rommel. But will you have the complete efficiency of the German military machine at the price the Germans pay for it? There are no arguments in Germany about waistcoats, whether someone has been misreported or not or whether the military leadership is efficient. 1 have never failed to acknowledge that my primary responsibility as Prime Minister is the safety of .this country, but I also acknowledge that our responsibility is to share in the risk of this total war.” Need for Restrictions Referring to the dislocation 1 “oi normal Australian life caused by rationalisation and restrictions to meet the primary needs of the war, Mr. Curtin said: “Vested interests, whether of capitalism, the trades unions or churches cannot survive if Japan wins. I am absolutely unmoved by the complaints from the civil order of the unnecessary restrictions placed upon it.” The belief that Australia will have to resist Japanese invasion efforts has been expressed by the Minister of the Army, Mr. F. M. Forde. “There is no doubt that the Japanese will attempt to knock Australia out of the war and over-run the country,” he said. “They will try because they realise that Australia is a men 7 ace to them.” American and British help to Australia had been invaluable, but Australia must depend mainly on herself —together with some additional aid from the United States. Shipping was the difficulty that was seriously limiting the amount of aid coming from America. Too much could not be expected from Britain which had lost considerable numbers of ships and millions of pounds of equipmen. rather than dishonour her pledge of assistance to Russia.