MR CHURCHILL’S REVIEW

Grey River Argus, 23 September 1943, Page 5

MR CHURCHILL’S REVIEW

Of Allied Operations LONDON, Sept. 21. In the House of Commons. Mr Churchill said: "Last May, Mr Roosevelt and myself set ourselves the principal objective of knocking Italy completely from the war this year. Nobody could have expected that task to be so rapidly achieved, the weight of bombs discharged over Germany by the R'.A.F. in the last three months was half as great again as in the preceding three months. The percentage of losses were lower this year than last. The enemy has been forced to make an enormous diversion of energy from the war fronts. The increase in aircraft available now exceeds the corresponding German supply by more tna p . four to one. This opens the possibility of saturating the German defences on the ground and in the .air. The complete strategic air domination of Germany by the British ana Americans is not necessarily beyond our reach even in 1944. The Russian Air Force is already at many points superior to the strength that tne Germans have been able to assemble. We must not let this favourable tendency lead us to suppose the war is coming to an end. On tne contrary we must expect the terrible foe we are smiting so heavily will make frenzied efforts to retaliate. No merchantman has been sunk by enemy action in the North Atlantic for a considerable time, and no Allied ships have been sunk by U-boats anywhere in the world during the first fortnight in September. _ This is altogether unprecedented in the whole history of U-boat warfare, in either this, or the last war. The enemy is using a new aerial bomb against shipping. It is a sort of rocket-assisted glider, which is released from a considerable height, apparently guided to the target by the parent aircraft. The Germans may be developing other weapons on novel lines. A new herd of U-boats have been coming out in the last week or so from bases in France and Germany. A convoy is being at-

tacked as I speak. The new building exceeds the losses since the outbreak by more than 6,000,000 tons. Should this continue, we will soon replace all losses suffered by the United Nations since the outbreak. We can be defeated by U-boats, only if we are guilty of gross neglect in shipyards and on the sea, and if the technical ability on both sides of the Atlantic inexcusably falls off. Even at the worst times we never trenched upon the substantial margin between us and what is called the danger level. “At Quebec, much attention was given to the prosecution of the war against Japan. The main weight is at present in the Solomons and New Guinea, where General MacArthur, an officer of outstanding personality, is directing the large scale offensive. These operations will unfold stage by stage, as months pass. J'apan’s shipping and plane losses certainly exceed their capacity for replacement. Lord Mountbatten will shortly reach India with combined staffs, conforming to the model established by General Eisenhower. The headquarters will be at New Delhi.” “After studying the terms of the Italian armistice, I authorised General Eisenhower to sign its name. “After Mussolini fell the Badoglio Government intended to make peace according to the will of the nation, but were influenced and overlorded by the Germans and had the greatest difficulty in maintaining themselves,” Mr Churchill said. “Desiring to bring about the surrender of Italy in the shortest time and at the least possible cost of lives, the Allies had to wait until the position became definite. We were sympathetic about their difficulties, but insisted the surrender must be unconditional. In the negotiations the Allies could not reveal their plans of invasion, and the real difficulty was the Italians were powerless until the Allies landed in strength. We offered and were prepared to land American airborne divisions at Rome at the same time as an armistice was declared, .and to fight off two German armoured divisions which were outside, hut owing to German investment of the Rome airfields it was not possible to carry out this part of the plan. We had every reason to believe that Mussolini was being kept under strong guard in a secure place. The Badoglio Government did their best, but did not provide for a heavy parachut 1 st descent. “The suggestions that forty days precious time was lost negotiating was as ill-founded as it was wounding to those who were bereaved. The whole operations was planned as the result of decisions taken on the fall of Mussolini and would have taken place whatever happened in Italy, at the earliest possible moment. The surrender was a windfall, but had nothing to do with the date for harvesting the orchard. The Italians had already suffered terribly, and now they were to be pillaged and terrorised in Hitler’s fury and revenge. In due course they would be rescued from servitude and degradation and enabled to regain their rightful olace among the free democracies of the modern world. “If asked whether he would apply this argument to the Germans he would say the case was different. We did not war with races as such, but against tvranny and. to preserve ourselves from destruction. Nazi tyranny and Prussian militarism must be rooted out if the world was to be spared a still more frightful conflict. (Until this was done there would be no sacrifice we would not make, and no lengths in violence to which we would not go. Having at the end of mv life acquired some influence upon, affairs. I wish to make it clear that I would not prolong the war needlessly a single day and it is my hope, if and when the British people are called by victory to share in the august responsibility of shaping the future, we shall show the same poise of temper as we did in the hour of mortal peril.” The German home ana overseas radios started sending out highlight summaries of Mr Churchill’s speech while he was still speaking. Ihe Berlin radio declared: “Competent military circles in Berlin confirm Mr Churchill’s statement that not a single Allied merchantman has been sunk in the North Atlantic in the past four months.”