QUITE POSSIBLE

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24894, 16 May 1944, Page 3

QUITE POSSIBLE

NAZI COUNTER-INVASION SABOTAGE ON LARGE SCALE SYDNEY, May 14 Reports in German-controlled newspapers that Marshal Rgmmel is planning a counter invasion of Britain should not be scofiuigly disregarded, because such a desperate action is certainly not beyond the bounds of possibility, suicidal though it would be, writes the military correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald. Such statements may, of course, be designed, like so much other Nazi propaganda, to confuse the Allies or to cause a diversion of forces from the Continental invasion. On the other hand, a military case could be made out for diversionary blows by the Germans, however remote might be the prospect of any permanent success. Allied plans for invasion are on such a stupendous scale that considerable disruption and interference with the timetable might bo caused if the enemy could achieve temporary _ success by landings either at coastal districts or by airborne attacks on keypoints m the j interior of Britain. Rommel's Audacity

Furthermore, euch action would fit m with tho known facts of Rommel's character, his strategy in North Africa being frequently characterised by audacity, sometimes to the point of folly. It may be taken for granted that the Allied Planning Staff has made ample preparation for such a contingency. Mr. Churchill has emphasised that the Home Guard, which at present numbers 2,000,000 highly-trained men, must be ready for surprises of this_ kind, and the drastic reorganisation in the first half of last month had as one of its objects a closer operational eo-ordina-tipn with the regular forces. Home Guard anti-aircraft units all over the country have been specially trained to cope with counter-attack from the air. Movements of Shock Units The several recent reports of the movements of German shock units and invasion craft westward, which would not otherwise .make sense, become plausible if the idea in to "throw a spanner" into Allied preparations for invasion, either before the attempt or during the first few crucial days when consolidation of the beachheads becomes an absolutely vital necessity. It can scarcely be doubted, however, that any German move of this kind would be suicidal. Even if units succeeded in reaching Britain, they could not be permanently supplied or reinforced, owing to the Allied command of both the air and the sea. Consequently, the effort would resemble selfsustaining sabotage on a large scale. DANGER SEEN DELEGATED POWERS GROW

THREAT TO CIVIL LIBERTY LONDON, May 14

Concern over the growth of delegated powers and a fear that war-time restrictions on civil liberty may become permanent are expressed in a report by a committee of the Liberal National Party under the chairmanship of Sir Frederic Hamilton, chairman of_ the executive committee of the National Liberal Council. While admitting the necessity _ for summary executive action in war-time, the report says that the obligation to establish effective control of such administration is one which Parliament cannot continue to avoid without endangering the whole fabric of civil liberty. The report points out that war-time orders now run to about 25,000 words and not 1 per cent of the persons to whom they apply have read and understood them. It expresses tear of ' sinister influences," saying: "It is well known that the Board of Trade and the Ministry of Labour have very wide [lowers over tho 'concentration' of industry. "We think that a close scrutiny of some of these concentration schemes would suggest suspicions, to say the least, that powerful interests are sometimes brought to bear in order to use Government machinery for the furtherance of trade interests and for the suppression of fair competition to the manifest disadvantage of the small and independent rival." The report criticises the school of thought represented by the Home Secretary, Mr. Herbert Morrison, which is said to see in war-time controls a jumping-off place for the "ordered, regulated State of their dreams," and says that a clash in political philosophy is unavoidable, and will range over much wider fields than a continuation of war-time controls.

CARE OF WOUNDED FLYING NURSES TRAINED PLANS FOR THE INVASION LONDON, May 12 Flying nurses have been trained for tho invasion. As soon as the first aerodromes are captured on the Western Front giant Douglas D.C.3 troop-carriers will ferry American nurses over. They will go with the invading troops on the outward journey. Then the planes will become flying hospitals to bring the wounded back to hospitals in Britain. _ Nearly all the nurses are in their twenties. Before the war they were air hostesses. Now they are the United States Air Evacuation Squadrons, and they expect to .have to tend wounded under fire. Plans have been made to evacuate by air thousands of wounded a day if necessary. About 60,000 wounded —British as well as American —have been evacuated in the Mediterranean and treated in hospitals in North Africa a few hours after being wounded. Down one sido of the big Douglas planes there are adjustable racks which can take 18 stretchers, plasma bottles, oxygen supplies and bandages. Each of the Air Evacuation Squadrons consists of six flight surgeons, 25 flight nurses and 25 medical orderlies. In each plane there is usually a nurse and an orderly, with one doctor between each six planes, to take care of th.e more seriously wounded. If necessary either the nurse or tho orderly can take complete charge of the wounded in a plane. They have received medical training to do the job on their own.

Working at full strength, each squadron can evacuate more than 900 patients a day.

PRINCESSES AT OPERA LONDON, May 14 Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret saw an opera for the first time when they accompanied the Queen to the New Theatre, where from the Royal Box i they saw the Sadlers Wells Company in "La Boheme.'' The Queen and the Princesses all woro dresses of light blue. The Queen later -tokl the producer that the Princesses greatly enjoyed their experience. PRAYER AT WAR PLANT NEW YORK, May 12 Each Monday morning at 10 o'clock about 200 employees of the Scott Aviation Corporation assemble in a small room and recite the Lord's Prayer in unison. Mr. Earle M. Scott, president of the firm, started the meetings early in the history of the company-—-a small war industry that grew out of his basement workshop in 19.32 to a war plant turning out high-altitude oxygen equipment for Army and Navy planes and tailwheel assemblies for gliders and aeroplanes.