ALLIES' TASK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23619, 1 April 1940, Page 10

ALLIES' TASK

SUPREME EXERTIONS WAR MAY BE LONG SCOPE OF CONFLICT ELOQUENT CHUKCHILL By Telesrapfv—Press Association— Copyright . {Received' March 31, 6.30 p.m.) ■ c . .LONDON, March 30 '■Six months ago I said that if we reached the spring without any great event occurring we should in fact", have gained an important suc- ' cess, and I still feel that this additional period for preparation has been of invaluable help to the Allies," said' the First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. ■ Winston Churchill, in a broadcast speech. "Peaceful parliamentary nations have more difficulties in transforming themselves into cast-iron warmaking organisations, than dictator States ,who glorify ,war and feed their. young ,on dreams of conquest. "The British Empire and the French Republic have now joined together in an indissoluble union so that their big purposes may be accomplished, and immense progress has been made in almost' every direction in strengthening their forces, in improving their defences,- and in adapting their whole economy and way of life to the service of the common cause. \ ' / Changeable Ally "Up to the present time has been on our side; but Time is a changeable ally. He may be with you in one period, against you in another, and then, if you come through that other, he may return again, /more faithful than before. "It seems to me that an intensifica- , tion of the struggle is to be expected, / and we certainly are by no means inclined to shrink from it. God forbid that we should boast, or speak in terms of vain conceit and over-confidence. We have never under-rated the terrible nature of what we undertook when, after striving so long for peace, we set ourselves the task of dealing with the Nazi and German menace in such a fashion as would clear the path for human progress and enable all countries, great and small, old and new, to breathe freely for a long time to come. Magnitude ol Task

"We do not minimise our task, but we can now measure it, in its enormous magnitude, more exactly than wo Could before We came into contact with our 'adversary on the sea and in the tiiri.l.We do; not conceal from ourselves ■ri-h'at- trials and tribulations lie before ' us, far beyond, anything we have so far undergone, and we know supreme exertions will be required, from the British and Frenclj' nations. "But .we are entitled to recognise - basic facts. Our resources and our man-power, once, they are developed, massively exceed those of the enemy. •The British and French races together amount to 110,000,000 against less than f" 70,000,000 Germans —for you cannot count' the 16,000,000 they are holding down by brute force. Through command -q£ the sea, which is becoming continually more complete, the resources of the world are to a very large extent open to us and, surveying the whole scene,, wo may rightly feel the good assurance that if we do our best we shall ■l not' fail. v : * Duration of the War "People often ask me, will the war be long or short? It might have been very short—perhaps, indeed, there might have been no war —if all the neutral States who share our convictions upon fundamental matters, and openly or secretly sympathise with us/ ' had stood (/ together at one signal and in one line. Wo did not count on this and therefore we are not dismayed, i "But the fact that many of the smaller States of Europe are terrorised "by Nazi violence and brutality into supplying Germany with materials of modern war may condemn the whole world to a, prolonged ordeal, with grievous consequences in many lands. Therefore I cannot assure you the war will be short, and still less that it will he easy. It is our duty to try not only to win the war, but to curtail as far as possible its devouring course. Legal Shackles - "Some weeks ago I spoke about the action of neutral States wlio have the misfortune to be Germany's neighbours. We have the greatest sympathy for these forlorn countries, and we understand their dangers and their point of view; but it would not be right or in the ''general interest that their weakness should feed the aggressor's strength and fill to overflowing the cup of fnnnan woe. There can be no justice if in a llife-and-death struggle an aggressor tramples down every sentiment of humanity and those who resist him remain entangled in the tatters of violated legal conventions. "Hardly a /Hay passes without fresh outrages of cruel and barbarous character being inflicted upon the shipping and sailors of all European countries. Their ships arc sunk by mine or torpedo, or by bornbs from the air, and their crews ' murdered or left to perish unless we are able to rescue thorn. Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, oven Italians, and ; many more J could mention, have been the victims of Hitler's murderous deeds. Malice Upon the Weak

"In his frenzy, this wicked man and tlio criminal regime which he has conceived and erected, increasingly ' turn , their malice upon weak, lonelj', and, above all, unarmed vessels of countries with which Germany is still supposed to be on friendly relations. In British and French convoys there is safety: only one in 000 neutral ships that have resorted to our protection has been "sunk. But outside the shelter of the Allied navies, merciless, baffled, pentup spite is jvreaked upon all who come within the Nazi clutch. "Nearly 200 neutral ships have been destroyed, and nearly 1000 neutral seamen' have Tpeen slaughtered, in Hitler's frantic endeavour to terrorise all who sp.ek to trade with the British Isles. During the Inst fortnight- 14 / neutral ships have been sunk, and only one British' ship. After all, it is we '■

who are his foes Such a form of warfare has never been practised since the effectual suppression of piracy on the high seas. "This Monstrous Power" "And this is /the monstrous power which even the very neutrals who have suffered, and are suffering most, are forced to supply with the moans of future aggression! This is the powei before whom, even while they writhe in anger, they are forced to bow, and whose victory they are compelled to aid, even though, as they well know, that victory would mean their own enslavement ! "Why, only yesterday, while sailors from a British submarine were carrying ashore on ' stretchers eight emaciated Dutchmen whom they had rescued from six days' exposure in an open boat, Dutch aviators —in the name of strict neutrality and impartial orthodoxy—were shooting down a British aircraft which had lost its way I In a Clage with a Tiger "I do not reproach the Dutch, our valiant allies of former days: my heart goes out to them in their peril and distress, dwelling as they do in a cage with a tiger. But when we are asked to take as a, matter of course interpretations of neutrality which give all the advantages, to the aggressor and inflict all the disadvantages upon the defenders of freedom, I recall a saying of the late ( Lord Balfour: 'This is a ■singularly ill-contrived world, but not so ill-contrived as that.' "But all these outrages upon the sea, so clearly visible, pale before the villainous deeds wrought upon the helpless Czechs, and Austrians, and sink into insignificance before the hideous agony of Poland. Here was a community oF nearly 35,000,000 people, with all the of modern government and all the traditions of an ancient State, which in a few weeks was dashed out of civilised existence, to become an incoherent multitude of tortured and starving men, women and children, ground beneath the heel of two rival forms of withering and blasting tyranny. Polesi' Puture Home "The other day, in a well-known British harbour, 1 inspected the crew of a Polish destroyer. I have rarely seen a finer bodv of men. 1 was stirred bv their discipline and bearing. Yet how tragic their plight! Their ship was afloat, but their country had foundered. But as I looked around upon all the great ships of war which lay at their anchors, and at all the preparations which were being made on every side to carry this war forward at all costs for as long as may bo necessary, I comforted myself with the thought that when these Polish sailors have finished their work with the British Navy we will take particular care that they once more have a home to go to. "Thoughtless, dilettante, or purblind worldlings—although the fate of Poland stares them in the face —sometimes ask us, what is it that England and. France are fighting for? To this I answer, 'lf we left off fighting you would soon find out.' Scope of the Conflict "We shall follow this war wherever it, leads, but we have no wish to broaden the area of conflict. At the outbreak of the war we did not know that Italy would not be our enemy; we could not be sure Japan would not be our enemy; many people had hopes that Russia would re-enter the comity of nations and help to shield workingfolk all over the world from Nazi aggression. But none of these things, bad or good, has happened. We have no quarrel with tho Italian and the Japanese peoples: we have tried and shall try to live on good terms with then i. "It is not part of our policy to seek war with Russia. The Soviet Government, in its onslaught upon the heroic Finns, has exposed to the whole world the ravages which Communism makes upon the fibre of any nation which falls victim to that deadly mental and moral disease. This exposure of tho Russian Army and the Russian' Air Force has tho world and heartened all States upon Russian offence. But there is no need for Russia to be drawn into this struggle, unless upon the promptings of obsolete imperialist ambition she wishes to do so of her own violence snd of malice aforethought. Hitler the Arch-Enemy

"Our affair is with-Hitler and the Nazi German power. There is the head and forefront of the offending, and it is there and there alone we .seek to strike.

"All's quiet on the Western Front, and to-day, so far, nothing has happened on sea or in the air. But more than a million German soldiers are drawn up, ready to strike at a few hours' notice, all along the frontiers of Luxembourg, Belgium and Holland. At any moment these neutral countries may he subjected to an avalancho of steel and fire; and the decision rests in the hands of the haunted, niorhid being who, to their eternal shame, the German peoples in their bewilderment have worshipped as a god., "That is the situation in VEuropo tonight; and can anyone wonder wo are determined to bring such a hideous statci of alarm and menace to an. end as soon as may bo and once and for all?

"Few there are to-night who. looking back on these Inst seven months, would doubt that the British and French peoples wore right to draw the sword of justice and of retribution. Fewer still there are who would wish to sheath it till its sombre, righteous work is done."

, ALLIES' UNITY DECLARATION WELCOMED PARIS, March 20 Streamer headlines in to-day's newspapers emphasise the Franco-British undertaking not to conclude a separate armistice or peace. The Supreme War Council's statement is regarded as a personal triumph for M. Ileynaud, the now Priino Minister. , • It is felt that M. Reynaud could have cho<ien no more successful a way of gaining Parliamentary support. The clause stipulating that the Allies will not discuss peace before an agreement regarding; security is designed to prevent a recurrence of the situation when the Allies, after the Great War, were seriously.; divided on the question of peace terms. • General Duval, writing in Le Journal, expresses the opinion that the agreement wiill ensure lasting peace alter victory.