Nelson Evening Mail TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1941 DID HITLER KNOW?

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 28 October 1941, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1941 DID HITLER KNOW?

CANDID disclosures by Lord Gort about British weaknesses and mis- ‘ fortunes in the battle for France and ’ Belgium have been capped by Mr ! Eden’s revelation that, at one stage during the summer before last, there was not even one fully equipped and fully trained division of soldiers in Britain. This is astounding. It probably refers to the position following Dunkirk, in June 1940, and is another important piece of evidence showing what scarcely could have failed to happen had Hitler launched an attack on Britain during those months similar to that which he has now made against Russia. Did Hitler kitaw of our perilous weakness, when, having secured the Channel Ports of France and the Low Countries, he turned inland to capture ! Paris rather than strike against Bri- ! tain? We may be able to obtain the , , j answer to that interesting question 1 ; one day. He knew that the British , had lost an immense quantity of , j their best equipment, but he was , probably unaware that over half of what Britain had available in any part of the Empire was left on the Continent. Unquestionably he had the power on land to proceed against Britain, but dominant in the Nazi decision to finish off France first must have been the consideration that Britain was an island and, before land war could be begun on t British soil, that narrow strip of water which had baffled Napoleon had to be crossed. What the people of Britain could have done had Hitler succeeded in bridging the Channel for only a few hours had perhaps better be left to the individual imagination. An untrained Home Guard would have been defending British soil with I flintlocks, slashers and pitchforks j which we know actually to have | been the only weapons some of the ■ Guardsmen had at that time. It will ! be remembered that Mr Churchill ! said publicly that he would, if necesj sary, remove the Government of | Britain to Canada and leave the ! Navy to keep the Empire intact until i such time as its heart could be ! restored. We can see now that this ! was a grave contingency against which the Prime Minister had to guard, since the facts that are now becoming public property were staring him full in the face. At the time we might have been tempted to dismiss this possibility as a gesture in heroics. Had a considerable part of the German army reached Britain with the arms which it then actually possessed and was eager to use, the conquest of Britain must have become a probability. That is an arresting fact which should make us all think. Mr Eden does not give us the exact time when Britain’s land army was practically non-existent but 22nd June is midsummer in the northern Hemisphere. By that time Hitler j had finished France and would still , have had a rosy prospect of subduing : Britain could he have gained a foot- J hold there. But, had he gone when j he reached the Channel instead of i I waiting, he must have had a better j I chance still. After Dunkirk the | British had become thoroughly j | roused. In contemplating the in-J I vasion of Britain, either in June, or j j from July to November, the Nazis j : ! knew that they had to reckon with the British Navy, as did Napoleon, j ■ With their weak naval position they j would realise they had no chance of j | eliminating our Navy, but they must; j have considered that they had a very j good chance of landing an army in j Britain in spite of it if they could j achieve air supremacy. This they set! | out to do: the whole world knows , with what result. Those large- ' scale onslaughts of the Luftwaffe 1 from August to October, 1940, were i designed to break through in the air. I We know they failed to do this because the fighter squadrons trounced them. The more the true facts come to light the greater and greater becomes the magnitude of the achieve- ! merit of “those strong young hands.” j Never were they more aptly describ- j ed than as “the shield of Britain.”! Had that shield been pierced we are : finding out by degrees that there was

precious little other organised and effective resistance behind it. Against this background of knowledge of the facts the air battle for Britain in 1940 must be regarded as one of the most In telling us—and the enemy—these things now the British leaders are showing that they can breathe again so far as Britain’s ability to defend herself is concerned. Lord Beaverbrook says the attack is sure to come even now and warns the workers of Britain that, when they have forged the necessary weapons, they must then leave the factories to use them in defence of their country. He visualises the people of Britain fighting for their homes just as the Soviet citizens are doing. If the war comes to that we shall at least have the satisfaction of knowing that Hitler has served notice of his innow can be fittingly received.