WAR SURVEY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 16 May 1941, Page 3

WAR SURVEY

THE ACTUAL POSITION SPEECH BY MR AMERY [British Official Wireless] Rugby, May 14. Mr L. C. S. Amery, Secretary of State for India, speaking at Coventry, said that to judge the actual war situation it was necessary to sec it in its true perspective. He continued: “A year ago the German Army and Air | Force were sweeping irresistibly across | Holland and Belgium and within a few ; weeks the splendid army of France, the ' mainstay of European freedom on land, ; was shattered like a pane of glass into ! helpless fragments and France, herself' dazed and bewildered, allowed herself J to be handed over, bound and gagged. ; to a merciless conqueror. Here we had ; a handful of trained soldiers salvaged > miraculously at the sacrifice of all their j equipment and a larger force of men i both untrained and unequipped for I modern war. Nothing wanted to assure I of Hitler that triumphant entry into j London whose date h had already fixed, j but a few days of command of the air j over the Channel and Southern Eng- j land, and for that he looked confidently j to an overwhelming Air Force. “While the heart of the Empire was thus in immediate and deadly peril General Wavell. at its main gateway in the Middle East was facing Italian forces three or four times stronger than his own on each side of him. What happened’’ First the air battle of Britain last autumn, the world's first great air battle and perhaps its most decisive one put an end to all Hitler’s dreams of walking into and over our unarmed England. Second, the air and submarine battle covering both Britain and its Atlantic approaches is in progress. It calls for all our energy and skill to meet it. We shall see it through and however long it continues. Hitler will be no nearer the goal of his ambition here than he was when he gave up the first battle for Britain, six months ago. IN THE MEDITERRANEAN “In the Mediterranean General Waveil’s brilliant campaigns not only annihilated both Italian armies that had been so laboriously assembled for his destruction, but actually enabled him to do what no one could have dreamt of last autumn, the despatch of a substantial force to support the Greeks in their heroic and most amazing stand against overwhelming forces. The strain thrown upon Germany in a wholly unexpected campaign in the Balkans may well have thrown out of gear the whole of Hitler’s plans for a victorious march across Turkey. Its effect upon Germany’s communications and sources of supply may well indeed only be felt fully in the course of the coming months. Together with our unconquerable Greek allies we hold Crete with its immensely important position. What is far more important than these purely military gains is the proof we have given to the world that we know how to stand by our friends.” Emphasising that this is a total war not only in the sense that all share its dangers but that all must be in it to the last ounce of energy, Mr Amery added: “It is a matter in which every individual has his own personal duty to fulfil. It is also a matter in which it is for all who are naturally or officially looked to for leadership to give a clear lead, whether they be employers or trades union leaders, Members of Parliament, or Ministers of the Crown. No existing vested in- , terests or habits or usages must be allowed to stand in the way of the fullest utilisation of all the energies of the nation.”