NAVAL MINES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23759, 12 September 1940, Page 10

NAVAL MINES

AUSTRALIAN OUTPUT SUBSTANTIAL EXPANSION MINING OF COASTAL AREAS By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received September 12, 12.20 a.m.) SYDNEY, Sept. 11 Substantial expansion in Australia's output of naval mines for local defence and for Admiralty requirements was approved by the War Cabinet to-day. In addition, a 3000-ton merchant ship will be fitted out as a minelayer and manned by a naval orew. ; The Prime Minister, Mr. Menzies, announced that preparations are being made for mining important strategic points around the Australian coast.

Two specially-fitted recruiting trains will leave Sydney within a few days for a State-wide six-months' drive for Air Force recruits. It is expected that 5000 men will be dealt with by staffs on board the train, which will be able to accomplish all the work usually done by the metropolitan recruiting centres.

LESSON FROM GERMANS ■■ 2 NEW CONCEPTION OF WAR BRITISH DEFENCES BENEFIT LONDON, Sept. 7 "The Germans have brought in a new conception of warfare, and their success has taught us a lesson," the General Officer Commanding the Southern Command, Lieutenant-General Auchinleck, told journalists after they had inspected coastal defences In his command. "The greatest good the Germans have done us has been to increase co-opera-tion between the fighting services," he added.

The Southern Command covers the entire south-western portion of England, where the wide expanses of smooth, open country —Salisbury Plain, the Berkshire Downs and the Wiltshire Downs, invite landings from the air. There are few potential landing grounds iin Devon and Cornwall, but an enormously long coastline, with many coves and beaches suitable for a surprise invasion by sea. Therefore, officers of the Navy, Army and Air Force confer daily in the Southern Command operations room. They also confer frequently on the beaches, ensuring intimate co-operation to meet any attack. The alertness of the troops is maintained at the highest pitch on the assumption that an invasion will be attempted against their own particular area.

SECRET OIL DEPOTS ISLANDS OF CARIBBEAN STORY TOLD IN AMERICA NEW YORK, Sept, 7 A detailed report, describing German refuelling depots established by U-boats and armed raiders in remote islands in the Caribbean Sea (on the Atlantic side of Central America), has been given to the North American Newspaper Alliance by Mr. Leicester Hemingway and Mr. Anthony Jenkinson, who have returned after an investigation in a schooner. As a result, they believe that the Germans, benefiting from the smokescreen of their propaganda in South America, are actually preparing a naval offensive off the Central American coast. Isolated, widely separated islands, stocked with dicsel oil, now provide refuges and refuelling bases from which innocent looking schooners operate as supply ships or communicate with islands on the mainland when the uso of radio is dangerous. More than 30,000 gallons of oil have been stored on Cozumel Island, and many oil drums have been accumulated at Old Providence and Saint Andrews. Even the Corn Islands, leased to the United States by Nicaragua, are potential German nests. They learned of plans to build or enlarge existing airfields where no aeroplanes for commerce or tourists are found, but which would be useful for an aerial invasion of the Canal Zone.