RUNNING THE BLOCKADE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXIV, Issue 29, 3 January 1944, Page 4

RUNNING THE BLOCKADE.

The sinking of a modern ship of substantial tonnage while running the blockade to a Southern French port emphasises Germany’s need for munitions of war. As in the Great War the British Navy imposed a rigid blockade upon Germany, so it is performing this, immense task in the present conflict. Conditions this time are, however, vastly different. States that were then neutral are now under Nazi domination; Frances

shores which were kept inviolate from the'enemy are wholly in her power, and the task of imposing a secure blockade is rendered extremely difficult. The occupied countries have been bled white for Hitlerism’s war, and Germany’s declining reserves have imposed a big strain upon her capacity to maintain her services in the field. Munitions must be brought from countries which will supply her and this means running the blockade. Only fast vessels can do so successfully and then often with a good measure of luck. The exploits of the Moewe and the Wolf during the Great War are well-known; others sought to run the gauntlet but failed. Earlier in this conflict German raiders scoured the seas with a fair measure of success. They were powerfully armed vessels which sank numerous Allied ships, and were distinct from the real blockade runners, being principally directed against Allied commerce. How in the fiifth year of the war Germany wants all the munitions she can obtain and ships are striving to beat the British Havy and the eyes of the Fleet, the great liners of the air which are ever on the watch. It is a losing game for the Nazis.