WAR ITEMS

Grey River Argus, 22 May 1941, Page 4

WAR ITEMS

RUGBY, May 19.

Eighty-five thousand airgraph letters from the Middle East, received at the General Post Office, London, will be delivered throughout the country during the next few days. These 85,000 tiny photo-letters weighed twenty pounds. The weight of an equivalent number of ordinary letters would be nearly one and ahalf tons. The airgraph mail was flown all the way from the Middle East, , and- only nine days elapsed since its despatch. The first batch of letters under the scheme was received last Tuesday, and numbered 50,000 microfilms. Later, it is hoped to institute a similar service from Britain to sailors, soldiers and airmen serving in the Middle East. The Berlin radio announced that the German language is now cpmpiusory in Greek schools. The Sofia correspondent of the British United Press states that the President of the Bulgarian National Assembly (M. Loofetoff), has resigned. RUGBY, May 19The Princess Royal attended a gala- sports meeting of the Royal Canadian Signals, of which she is Colonel-in-Chief. Generals McNaughton and Odium and other senior officers were present. Uganda has now raised a total oi one hundred thousand pounds for the purchase of fighter aircraft, and a, squadron will be named after’ the Protectorate. RUGBY, May 17. The enemy is finding it increasingly necessary, in addressing his own listeners, to attack British broadcasts The Director-General of the BBC (Mr. F. W. Ogilvie) emphasised this in a talk in the Indian service, in Hindustani. Mr. Ogilvie said: ‘The enemy obviously follows our broadcasts closely, and they attack them day by day, although their own listeners have nominally been prohibited all along, and with a heavy penalty, for listening to foreign broadcasts at all—a crime which in Germany is called spiritual selfmutilation. And in the occupied countries —Poland, Czechoslovakia, Norway, Holland, Belgium, France, and the Balkans—there is evidence not merely that people listen and listen intently, but that their courage is upheld by their listening and their minds kept alert for victory hi due course. Even now the countryside and towns in certain places are being covered, in response to our broadcasts, with the letter V, the initial letter and proud symbol in many languages of the words victory or freedom. To see those V’s carved on tree-trunks, stencilled on walls, scrawled on dusty mudguards of German Army lorries, brings hope and comfort to the oppressed. And the oppressors, seeing them, know and are afraid. Greece, the candle of our Western civilisation, has fallen —for the moment. A few days ago a little ceremony took place here in one of our 8.8. C. studios. The Greek Minister in London handed over to us the signal of the Athens radio station for safe keeping. He said: “The voice of Greece is no longer heard from the holy_rock of the Acropolis. The present announcer of the Athens radio station may be Greek-speaking, but he is not in touch with the Greek soul, for he now acts under the immediate orders of the invader.’ The Greek Minister continued: ‘I now entrust to the safe keeping of the London radio station—the station of that other great island from which the fight for freedom is being carried out —the signal of the Athens free station, until the dawn of that happy

day when the ether will' reverberate again with the voice of free Greece.’ ’. MONTREAL, May 17. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation announced to-day the inauguration of an Anzac Newsletter broadcast each Sunday, for the benefit of Australian and New Zealand air trainees. LONDON, May 17. American-built aircraft are being flown to Britain in increasing numbers without loss under the transAtlantic ferry service. The system of returning the pilots bv air instead of by sea, wh’ch was recently initiated, is functioning on a five-day round trip schedule, according to an announcement by the British Ministry of Aircraft Production. The aeronautical correspondent of “The Times’’ states that the degree of women power which is swinging into the war effort is illustrated by the decision to train selected members of the W.A.A.F. as flight mechanics and riggers for Royal Air Force squadrons, enabling the release ot men employed on maintenance ana repair crews. It is intended to experiment in the employment of women on balloon barrages and the skilled job of parachute packing. It is also proposed to employ women instrument repairers, electricians, and radio operators. RUGBY, May 16.

Ten thousand cavalry swords have been released by the War Office for the Ministry of Supply’s scrap meta! campaign and will be converted without delay into new munitions. The swords and scabbards sent forward under this arrangement weigh twenty-two and a-third tons. WASHINGTON, May 18.

A‘ strike occurred at four General Motors’ plants this morning. The Union President, Mr. Thomas Flew, will address a mass meeting in order that 34,000 men return to work. A Detroit message stated that the General Motors Coy. have announced that a strike closed the Chevrolet grey iron factory at Saginaw, which is employing 4800 men. WIRELESS OPERATORS. RUGBY, May 19A new scheme for training wireless operators in the three services was outlined by Lieutenant-Colonel Lycett, Chairman of the Wireless Telegraphy Board. The scheme is open to any young man between 161 years and eighteen years on January 29 last. Loss of Pilots , WORST FOR ENEMY RUGBY, May 12. The German Air Force’s wanton attack on priceless monuments of British history, such as Westminster Abbey and Westminster Hall, are still the subject of indignant comment, and photographs in the press of the damage caused emphasise one description that the attack on London last Saturday night was “as indiscriminate as the frenzy of an ape." The moral of German losses is pointed out by the “Evening Standard,” which says: “It is probable the Germans reckon their heavy losses in night battles throughout this month more in numbers of airmen killed or lost than in numbers of machines forfeited. These airmen were specially skilled. Indeed, constantly throughout this war, pilots have had to acquire new skill. Most German airmen are first trained for co-oper-ations with land forces. They have since had to learn aptitude for an* warfare over the sea and by night. Our own night fighting pilots have been called upon to bring their prowess to yet a higher pitch. In their

hands and brains .reside ofur most precious possessions. Victory, in the end, may be achieved by the side which can mass the greatest number of skilled airmen. If that be the test, we should not quarrel. The youth of Britain and America can outmatch that of Nazi Germany both in individual comparison, and in numbers, the democracies have potential superiority. It .is their business by planning and training schemes on the largest and swiftest scale to make that superiority decisive.