THE HAND OF GERMANY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23774, 30 September 1940, Page 6

THE HAND OF GERMANY

Nazi blows at Britain are not confined to those dealt in the scene of action round and over the British Isles. The whole world, as opportunity offers with any degree of safety, is made a battleground ; not always of direct challenge but rather of intrigue calculated to undermine and obstruct the Allies' activity. On the high seas, within the severe limits set by the prowess of the Royal Navy, attacks on our merchant shipping are made by German submarines and such surface craft as are not yet destroyed or driven to cover. The plot to delay sailings from New York of foreign shipping engaged in service to the Allies must be viewed as part of' the German attempt to impose a blockade on Britain; happily, this particular intrigue appears to have been effectively exposed and countered. Of greater moment is the exertion .of sinister influence where it cannot so easily be checked. There is. no doubt

that the failure of General de Gaulle's expedition to Dakar, which, had at his request a promise of support by Britain, was mainly if nob entirely brought about by this influence. Primarily the Vichy Government Mas responsible, but as it is compelled to dance to the tune played in Berlin the final responsibility is Germany's. The leader of Free Frafice was evidently unaware of the grip maintained by the Nazi emissaries in French Senegal; every incident in that episode proved how thoroughly secret was the preparation to withstand him, the Yichy Government being a weapon in the ruthless hand of Germany. Now Rumania has become again a scene of anti-British plotting. It matters little, in the outrage committed on two British oil technicians there, that they are employees of a company bearing a non-British name ; to prefer a serious charge against Britons, and to extract from them by brutal violence a forced confession of contemplated sabotage, are deeds so closely agreeing with Nazi methods and Nazi purposes in Rumania that their real origin is unmistakable.