MARINES STAND GUARD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26709, 2 March 1948, Page 5

MARINES STAND GUARD

AIRFIELD IN BRITISH HONDURAS GUATEMALAN BORDER QUIET N.Z.P.A.— Copyright Rec 9 p.m. LONDON, Ma£ 1. British marines have dug in at Belize airfield, which was constructed during the war and is well suited to an air landing operation. Mortars and automatic weapons now cover all approaches to the aerodrome, says the Belize correspondent of the Daily Telegraph. Marines from the cruiser Sheffield carried out tactical exercises 10 miles from the Guatemalan border and all is quiet along the frontier. The effects of Guatemalans to infiltrate into British Honduras have not ceased. British officials have received a request for visas for 150 “tourists. Visas have been granted although n is generally assumed that the tourists will follow the Nazi pattern. There is a general feeling that the British show of force has stifled any plans that might have existed in Guatemala to seize British Honduras, says Reuter’s Belize correspondent. The commander-in-chief of the West Indies station. Vice-admiral Sir William Tennant, said he did not think a landing from the sea was possible and a land invasion could only come down a single swamp-flanked road which is now strongly guarded. The cruiser Sheffield is keeping her radar manned and she is capable of shelling the airfield if necessary.