VICTORY ROAD

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25048, 11 November 1944, Page 8

VICTORY ROAD

PROGRESS OF ALLIES GERMANS BEATEN BACK FORCES ON THRESHOLD SURVEY BY CHURCHILL By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright LONDON, Nov. 9 "The events of 1943 have been far surpassed by those of 1944," said Mr Churchill, in the course of a speech at the Mansion House today. "Rome and Athens, Paris, Brussels and Belgrade, have all been rescued. By their own exertions they have largely freed themselves from German oppression. All of Hitler's satellites have turned against him. Not only have they been struck down, but they have act-ually-turned their arms, upon his baleful coercion. The slaves, driven bo far against their own interests and honour, and, in many cases, against their inclinations, have had the chance to turn upon the slavedrivers and may now reap the vengeance which is due. "In both the East and West the Allied vanguards stand on German soil. From .the air there has rained down ■upon the guilty German land a hail of fife and explosives of ever-increasing fury. "We had our own experience and we know how severe the ordeal may be, but I can assure you that we have not suffered a tenth, and shall not suffer a tenth, of what is being meted out to those who first started and developed this cruel, merciless form of attack. "Such are some of the fruit of 1944 nnd no one can be blamed—-provided ho or she does not slacken efforts—for hoping that victory may come to the Allies and peace to Europe in 194c>. Battles in Normandy Mr Churchill referred to the presence at the gathering of General Koenig (formerly leader of the Free French Forces of the Interior) and the Burgomaster of Brussels, and said they were Hying representatives who brought home the splendid events that had recently taken place. . Interest in world events, the Prime Minister said, had been dominated by the battles in Normandy in which the British and American armies had destroyed or pulverised the structure ot Gtrman military resistance in France. The brilliant exploitation of this victory had enabled the Americans to sweep through France, aided by the audacioun, gallant Maquis, and had also enabled the British to clear the Channel coast and drive the enemy out of Belgium and a large part of Holland. Here they had seen the highest results surely and firmly seized and held at every stage. Mr Churchill added: "There comes a time when the pursuers have outstripped ■fa the utmost limits their supplies and when the enemy, falling back on his own territory, is enabled once again to form a front. This showed itself very plainly by the serious and continuous fighting which broke out on the Moselle and irf that neighbourhood. Pause Inevitable ' "When the American advance got so much impetus and came up against the hard core of -recovered enemy resistance a pause in the Allied advance was inevitable, but in the past two months the bringing up Of supplies and reinforcements and the improvement of harbours have been the main preoccupation of the Supreme Allied Command. ; "In the past eight or ten weeks two considerable operations have been fought by the armies under the British command in both of which Canadian and Polish forces have been represented and in both of which operations United States troops have fought with their Customary skill. The first of these two great operations was in Italy under General Alexander. Here we surmounted the terrible barrier of the Apennines and the Gothic Line and this carried us into the Valley of the Po. •'lf "The season has. however, brought !yery heavy, br-d and unaccustomed for this time of year and the progress there is hard. But the forcing •of this mountain line, so strongly forti:£ed and held by an army practically Ijfts large as our own. already constitutes a great feat of arms. Freeing of Antwerp j "The second interim battle has been in the Netherlands under Field-Marshal Montgomery, ' who has opened the ■ Scheldt,- and this will very shortly ■place the great port of Antwerp at the of the northern flank of the 'Allied armies, which will presently move 'lnto Germany for the final struggle. I; "In these two operations, in Italy and in Holland and Belgium, very iheavy losses have been sustained, in ,the greatest proportion by the British and Canadian forces. In both we have .been aided by our valiant Allies and in : both opportunities have been offered for superb feats and deeds of heroism, when they are known and have '-been studied with the attention they deserve, will long 'figure in song and story and will long light the martial annals of our race. ; "I thought it only right and just to mention those battles, which will lead to the further operations which must be Conducted in the months to come. Now we all stand on the threshold of Germany, and it will take the full exertions Of the three great Powers and every scrap of strength and sacrifice they can give to crush down the desperate resistance we must expect from this military antagonist, beaten back to his own lair. j - -, No Easy Future | "Tcannot offer an easy future on the Continent of Europe. It is always in the last lap of the race that great efforts must be forthcoming. It is no moment now to slacken. Hard as it may seem after five long years of war, every man and woman in this island must show themselves capable of doing it, and 1 am sure that our soldiers at the front will pot be found incapable of extra effort to crown all that has been attained, to bring this frightful slaughter and devastation in Europe to an end •within the shortest possible time. ! "I can assure you that, just as it is our duty tb work hard to introduce great measures of social reform, so it is our duty to make preparations for the chpnge. from "war to peace' of from war in Europe'to the war in far-distant Asia. Nothing should stand in the way of the 'prosecution of the war to its ultimate'conclusion. If we fail in that we shall ;not be worthy of your confidence." '. <•, AUSTRALIAN LOAN FILLED WITHOUT BANK AID CANBERRA, Nov. 10 Australia's second Victory Loan of £160,000,000 has been filled without subscriptions from central or trading banks. In announcing this, the Federal Treasurer, Mr J. B. Chifley, said that more than 120,000 subscriptions had been received since the official closing date of the loan on October 31. AMERICAN TRAIN WRECK j NEW YORK. Nov. 9 The Southern pacific train. "Challenger" was, derailed and wrecked three miles from Colfax, California. At least 12 persons were killed and 150 injured.