Great U-Boat Offensive Threatened

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 49, 26 February 1941, Page 7

Great U-Boat Offensive Threatened

German Preparations for the Spring NEW TYPE OF CRAFT TO BE USED LONDON, Feb. 24. Intensified sea warfare against Britain, with a new type of U-boat playing a prominent part in March or April, was promised by Hitler in & speech which he gave to-day in the Munich Beer Cellar. “We have been waiting,” he said, v “for new U-boats. Our sea warfare will start in March or April on such & scale that the enemy never expected. When our enemies ridicule German and Italian sumbarine eo-operation ,they do not know what is in store for them, but they will know soon when our new type of submarines operate. ’ ’ | Hitler continued: “Numerous British ! warships are tied up in the Mediterranean, numerous British planes are tied up in North Africa, numerous British land forces are also tied up, and our sea warfare is only just starting. “Two hours ago I received reports that Gerfnan surface warships and Üboats had sunk 215,000 tons of shipping in two days, but the British will have to be prepared for sterner things in March and April. We wanted to complete the training of crews in the new U-boats. Now, wherever British ; ships cruise, our U-boats will follow , until the decisive hour. * “I have taken on many democracies as enemies and have always been victorious. I am feeling fresher than ever because spring is coming, when we will be able again to measure our strength. Wherever we meet the British, in the Mediterranean, the North Sea, or the Atlantic, they will be ravaged by our Stukas (divebombers).” Hitler spoke for 2J hours, his speech being mostly an historical review. He declared that National Socialism and Marxism were basically the same. The speech was often drowned by waves of applause. Military bands, thundering out martial airs, whipped the audience into a frenzy of patriotic fer vour to welcome him.