HELP FOR RUSSIA

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 15 September 1941, Page 6

HELP FOR RUSSIA

NO EFFORT TO BE SPARED THE NAVY’S PART SPEECH BY FIRST LORD (Rec. 11.53 a.m.) Rugby, Sept.. 14 Mr A. V. Alexander, First Lord of the Admiralty speaking at Nottingham. said: "The policy of the Government with regard to Russia lias been stated by the Prime Minister without the slightest ambiguity and lias the full and loyal support of every member of the

Government, In a nutshell it is that Russia is our ally in the fight against Nazism and we will Rive her every possible form of assistance we can without any stint or reservation. “To give this assistance to Russia means increasing our productions drive and also denuding ourselves of some of; the fruits of that drive. We will do so gladly because the cause is a common and a single one. and what we do for Russia is done for the cause and so for ourselves. “Speaking for the Admiralty I say we ! will spare no effort which we can make i on behalf of Russia, having in mind our ; strength and other tasks I have mentioned. And let me tell you there are ( many ways in which naval help can be j and is being given to Russia, but I am \ not going to help the enemy by going j into details of what is being done. I i know I speak for all of us when I say | that words are but feeble things with ( which to express our admiration of the, resistance which the Russians are offering in what is truly a titanic battle. Stalin calls upon them for no sacrifice which they do not make to their very utmost. Their lives and their posses- i sions are all thrown into the defence of the soil. It will perhaps be hard for us to realise what the great power l station at Dniepertrovsk meant to the Russian peasant and workers. It was 1 to them not only a source of light and i heat and power—it was also a symbol of Russia’s emancipation from the era ' of stagnation and her emergence into j the modern world of progress. INSPIRING DEEDS OF RED ARMY ‘The destruction of these outward visible signs of the inward and spiritual ; change must have been agony to them. I yet there was no flinching and that | mighty work crashed into ruin that Russia may survive and live and build yet mightier works. We can draw inspiration from the deeds of the Rus- ! sian armies, but so can they draw inspiration from the struggle which we waged alone for over a year." Speaking of the work of the Navy. Mr Alexander went on: "We have established naval supremacy in the Medi-, terranean which is best illustrated by the essential convoys which have been passed through these waters. But our main preoccupation is and must be the Battle of the Atlantic. We have got to bring food and raw materials for the factories and finished munitions of war f.om our Dominions and the United States. There is a minimum amount of imports which must come in. and it is the Navy’s job to see that it does come in. That is the battle of the Atlantic. It is a battle which never ceases. It is .n all the time. Sometimes it goes well for us. At other times not so well. Recently it has gone very well, but at any moment there may break a bad spell. The battle is certainly not yet won. It is from the south and the west Atlantic right around this island and up and down the North Sea and the English Channel. Unceasing vigilance in the trying out of new ideas, and above all the provision of new con-: struction in the shape of escort itself; as well as the speedy repair of damaged j merchant ships, are essentials of victory.” Mr Alexander concluded: “Over the oceans comes pouring; in help in men and materials which spells defeat for Hitler so that he is driven to concentrate against our shipping. The attack is fierce and may well grow fiercer, but the evidence of two years gives us confidence to believe that it will be won.”—B.O.W.