WAR SITUATION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 10 September 1941, Page 5

WAR SITUATION

MR CHURCHILL'S REVIEW REFERENCE TO ATLANTIC MEETING

(Rec. 9.40 a.m.) Rugby, Sept. 9. 1 he Prime Minister, Mr Churchill, in a comprehensive statement to the House of Commons on the war situation began with an ac- ( count of his meeting with President Roosevelt, at which he said con- i elusions were reached on four main topics:—Firstly, The eight-point declaration: secondly, measures for help for the Soviet Union: thirdly, the policy to be pursued otwards Japan: and fourthly, the large number of technical matters dealt with by the Service chiefs of both countries. Dealing with the eight-point declaration Mr Churchill said: “I have hitherto consistently deprecated the formulation of peace aims or war aims, however you put it, by His Majesty's Government at this stage, and 1 deprecate it at this time when the end of the war is not in sight and when the conflict sways to and fro with alternating fortunes and while conditions and associations at the end of the war are unforeseeable. But a joint declaration by Britain and the United States is an event of a totally different nature. Although the principles of the declaration have long been familiar to the British and American democracies, the fact that it is a united declaration sets up a milestone or monument which needs only the stroke of victory to become a permanent part of the history of human progress.'

The purpose of the declaration was stated in the preamble and no words i were needed to emphasise the future promise held out to the world, and at ) tention need only be drawn to the : words in the sixth point ‘After the Anal j destruction of Nazi tyranny’ to show the j profound and vital character of the j mutual agreement which Britain and! the United States had entered into. ' Discussing certain constructions of! the declaration, Mr Churchill emphas—, ised that he was speaking from exclusively a British point of view, and explained that there was no attempt to define how the broad principles contained in the declaration would be specifically applied to each and every case when the war ends. In its relation to the British Empire Mr Churchill said the declaration “will not qualify in any way various statements of policy which have been made from time to time about the development of constitutional Government in India and Burma.” We are pledged by the declaration of August, 1940, to help India obtain free and equal partnership in the British Commonwealth with ourselves; subject, of course, to the fulfilment of j the obligations arising from our long association with India and our responsibilities to its many races and interests. Burma also is covered by our considered policy of establishing self-govern-ment by measures already in progress. “At the Atlantic meeting we had in mind the restoration of the sovereign status, the self-government and the na- ' tional life of the states and nations of Europe now under the Nazi yoke and i the principles which would govern any 1 alteration in the territorial boundaries ! of those countries which might have to be made. That is quite a separate problem from the progressive evolution of a self-governing institution among peoples which owe allegiance to the 1 British Crown.” Declarations dealing with those mat- ; ters had already been made and entirely in harmony with the high concep- ' tions of freedom and justice inspiring 1 the joint declaration. BATTLE OF ATLANTIC Mr Churchill then dealt with the \ \ Battle of the Atlantic, in which in an effort to starve the British Isles by I U-boat and air attack the enemy con- j tinually changed his tactics. The actual figures of shiping losses for July and) August would not be given, as it was j , inadvisable to give the enemy too pre- J, cise or early information as to the success or failure of his manoeuvres. ! “The public and indeed the whole j ‘ world, however, derived the impression i! that things have gone much better ini, these two months. I cannot deny this; is so,” the Prime Minister added, amidst j . cheers. Improvement in the sea war; j manifested itself in the falling off of I ! sinkings and the consequent increase in! J the arrival of valuable cargoes, and the! ( estimate he had made at the beginning! ' of the year looked as though it would ‘ 1 be exceeded. A further manifestation j ! of improvement is the great rise in the ; destruction of enemy shiping during the ( last three months which had been ' ] achieved by brilliant new’ tactics of! ( Coastal Command aircraft and the ex- 1 ploits of submarines. By these two 1 weapons the destruction of enemy ship- y pnig had been enormous, l “I may say that the sinkings of j British and Allied shipping by enemy action in July and August added together do not amount to much more than a third of the German and Italian tonnage we have sunk by aircraft and submarines.” “Our achievement is even more remarkable when it is remembered that the target represented to the enemy is ten, possibly twenty, times greater than that offered to the British forces. “His ships make a short voyage, dart across narrow strips of water or slink along the coast from one defended port to another under air protection, while we f carry on the gigantic world wide trade £ of Britain which, as has often been t stated and cannot be stated too often. I involves no fewer than 2000 ships and r never few’er than four hundred in danger zones.” r Mr Churchill paid a high tribute to t the submarine service, which he said a was the most dangerous of all services, t “Perhaps that is the reason why the i r First Lord of the Admiralty tells me ! r that entry into it is greatly sought by e officers and men.” During 1941 Brit- c ish submarines had sunk or seriously s damaged seventeen enemy warships, l some of which were U-boats, and 105 t supply ships varying from large 20,000 t ton liners to caiques laden with troops, r Among other perils which have been t overcome is that of mines. s “British successes have been the reward of patience and exertions, although,” he added, “let us hear no 1 a more fine talk about the Battle of ; a the Atlantic being won.” VISIT TO ICELAND r Mr Churchill went on to speak ol his: f visit to Iceland where he reviewed i v strong British and United States lorces,' J "which while no doubt for the perform-1 c ance of entirely different and separate | s duties happen to be engaged in defend- 1 in, this important island—the stepping | * stone across the Atlantic—from Nazi 1 1 intrusion and attack.” He stated that c United States and British naval and air 1 1 forces were stationed on the island and ! v would play an ever increasing part in I G maintaining supplies. I s EASTERN THEATRE Turning to the Eastern theatre, Mr ! T ‘ Churchill recapitulated the course of I events in Iraq from the coup de’etat C carried lut by the pro-Nazi Rashid Ali l ° to the suppression of the rising and the ' , V return of the Regent. He revealed that i 1500 soldiers and aircraftmen arrived on the Habbaniyah air station and turned the tables in a most spirited manner and in spite of a superiority of three to one drove the enemy ofi with heavy loss” uefore a ieiieving i p force arrived. Although Rashid All i s constantly appealed to thi Germans to make good their promise of help, only j ’! 30 or 40 aeroplanes arrived. 1 ll i t: Explaining the Nazi failure to j o send parachutists and air-borne ‘ a

j troops. Mr Churchill said that these had been largely exterminated in Ihe battle of Crete, where over 1000 of these special troops had been killed and a large number of troop-carriers destroyed. The ! forces which attacked Crete were in no condition for further opera- 1 tions. j His Majesty's Government had been able to re-establish friendly relations i with the restored Iraq Government, I and the treaty was now being loyally 1 observed on both sides. POLITICAL SITUATION IN SYRIA Explaining the political situation in I Syria Mr Churchill said: “We have no i ambitions in Syria. Wc do not seek | to replace British for French influence 1 n Syria or substitute our own for any French interests in Syria. We are in Syria only to end the war. However, | we must make it quite clear that our I policy and that of our Free French Al- ; i hes is that Syria will be handed back i | n the Syrians, who will assume as soon ! *as possible independent Sovereign j rights. We do not propose that this j process shall wait until the end of the ( v/ar, and we contemplate constantly increasing the Syrian share in adminis- ' Nation. I must make it plain that there j is no question of France maintaining , the same position in Syria which she ' exercised before the war, but which the French Government had realised : must come to an end. On the other ; hand we recognise among all the nations of Europe that the position of ' France in Syria is one of special pri- j vilege and in so far as any country in Europe may have a special influence j there, that of France will be pre-emin-ent, and we will not there deprive j France of her long accepted position j in Syria except so far as is necessary j to fulfil our obligations. There must j be no question even in war time of a ; mere substitution of Free French in- i terests for Vichy interests. The Syrian | ! peoples are to come back into their , own and this is fully recognised in the j j documents which have been exchanged ■ I between the Minister of State and re- i | presentatives of the Free France.” ENEMY AT STANDSTILL IN WESTERN DESERT | Proceeding, the Prime Minister said j that while this was going on in the Le- ! vant, on the eastern flank the armies | cf the Nile had struck two heavy blows i &t the German forces which had re-oc- j cupied Cyrenaica. Those forces found themselves unable to advance upon Egypt without destroying the strong- I hold of Tobruk, which was firmly held by British and Australian troops. The heavy attacks made in the Western j Desert in the middle of May and the i 1 middle cf June, while they had not ' succeeded in forcing the enemy to retreat. yet they had played a great part l in bringing the enemy to a standstill. ! German boasts which they widely cir- j * culated in Europe and in the Middle i East that they would be in Suez by the end of May were shown to be vain. I Powerful reinforcements had reached the Army of the Nile and he felt con- 1 siderable confidence that Egypt would | be successfully defended from a Ger- ! man invasion across the Western j Desert. RESISTANCE OF RUSSIANS Mr Churchill spoke of the magnificent resistance of the Russian armies. The successful withdrawal of a vast front in the teeth of the Nazi invasion had dispelled Hitler’s hope of a short war with Russia. “Already in three months he has lost more German blood than was shed in any single year of the last war.” Mr Churchill said that it was impossible for anyone representing the British Government to discuss or argue the question of military projects which had been examined, but from the moment of the invasion, the British Government had cast about for every means to give the utmost effective help j to our new ally. The need of material aid was urgent, and the scale heavy, because a considerable part of the munitions industry and iron and steel production of Russia had fallen into ei.emy hands. The Soviet Union had anythin.., from ten to fifteen million j soldiers, and arms equipment for nearly all of them, but aid in supplying j these masses to enable them to realise |! their long-continuing force and orga- i • nise operation of supply will be the j. task of the Anglo-American and Rus- - sian conference. The whole problem I« both in Britain and the United States has been ceaselessly studied and the 1 arrival of the American mission is 1 awaited. Mr Churchill emphasised that there ' ' had been no avoidable delay in ar- ! ranging the conft rence or choosing the 1 personnel of the British mission which would be headed by Lord Beaverbrook. Mr Churchill reminded th.2 House that everything give: to Russia must be subtracted from British supplies, and if the United States were to fulfil the j task they were setting themselves large installations would have to be set up 1 of conservation, and civilian consumption would be further reduced. "Meanwhile very man. important emergency decisions are being taken, and large supplies are on their way. We must be 1 prepared to make large sacrifices in the munitions field in order to meet the needs of Russia, and the utmost exer- j cise of energy will be required from all 1 concerned in production in order not j only : help Russia but fill the gaps j which must now be opened in our long looked for supplies which at last have •>een arriving.” OCCUPATION OF IRAN Dealing with Iran Mr Churchill said, ( The House will, I have no doubt, ap- j prove of the somewhat drastic mea- j sures we thought it was right to take. ! occupation of Persia enables us to j 'oin hands with the southern flank of ! the Russian armies and bring into ac- | tion both military and air forces.” The j occupation of Persia ha. also presented a bar to the eastern advance of the |

Nazis, and would keep the scourge of war thousands of miles or more from ; the homes of the Indian peoples. ENORMOUS ALLIED FRONT Ihe Allied front,” he proceeded, now runs in an enormous crescent from Spitzbergen in the Arctic Ocean region to Tobruk in th" Western Desert, and our section of this front will be held by British and Empire armies, with their growing strength and fed end equipped by seaborne supplies j fror n Britain, the United States, India and Australia, and I am glad to say naval power will be at hand in i both the Baltic and thi Indian Oceans le secure these seas against all at- | tacks.” STILL MASTER OF OUR FATE Mr Churchill concluded: “The mood of the British is wisely and rightly averse from every form of shallow or premature exultation. This is not a time for boasting and glowing prophecies, but there is still this—a year ago our position looked forlorn and well nigh des- ( perate to all eyes but our own. I ’’e-day e may say before an awe. ; struck orld, .. c are still master j of ou; fate. We arc still captain of I our soul.’” —8.0. W.