DEMAND FOR COLONIES

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19881, 7 March 1939, Page 5

DEMAND FOR COLONIES

HITLER’S REAL REASON

FRENCH GENERAL’S VIEW

‘‘OFFENSIVE POWER”

LONDON, Feb. 5. Herr Hitler’s real reason for insisting on the return of colonies is to multiply the offensive power of the axis tenfold and enable it to cut off the Mediterranean and command the Atlantic. This is the conclusion of a distinguished member of the French staff, General Tilho, in an article in the Nineteenth Century. He says that -Herr Hitler’s demand for colonies on January 1 was couched in almost the same terms as on the same date in 1937 when he explained it was for an economic, not a military object.

"Owing to Germany’s painful struggle for food and raw materials, necessity arises for expanding exports so that they can toe bought. Germany’s dense population makes colonies a necessity,” said Herr Hitler. General Tilho comments on “these shrewd oratorical phrases which allay suspicion.” National Honour He says that Germany’s economic privations are due entirely to the scale of rearmament in conjunction with recent absorptions of territory. Her ex-colonies cannot support more than 40,000, and were never capable of supplying more than a fraction of 1 per cent of Germany’s trade. General Goeringhas already claimed the colonies on the ground of national honour. But in reality, Germany wants colonies purely for military reasons and seeks to establish air, land and naval bases in conjunction with the Italian East African bases. The entire African strategic position since the last war has been altered by the development of air power. General Tilho adds that, in future wars, nations which retain command of communications will win, but the return of German colonies will disrupt these communications. Best Guarantee ot Peace Thus the best guarantee of peace is the fear of losing a war, and the maintenance of the colonial status quo would make it certain that the axis Powers would lose. However, if the Cameroons were returned to Germany, Italian bombers from Libya and the German Cameroons could destroy French forts and divide the French colonial bloc containing 36,000,000 inhabitants, of which 15,000,000 are in the north and 21,000,000 in the south 'Sahara. Possession of this territory would also enable the axis ‘Powers to threaten the Belgian and Portuguese colonies and probably South Africa. 'Phc whole of British and French North Africa, north of the equator, could be bombarded from Abyssinia, Libya, the Cameroons and Togoland.

Fomenting Rebellion

Thus Britain and France would be compelled to increase their air forces tenfold, thereby weakening their strength in the event of hostilities in Europe. . , Moreover, the Germans would foment rebellion that would require the dispersal of 'British and French troops all over Africa. There is no doubt that the possession of Libya and the Cameroons by. the axis Powers would place Egypt in a hopeless position. The worst result of the return of the Cameroons would be the acquisition by Germany of the immensely important port of Duala, from which ships from Australia and the Cape, and even from South American, would be subjected to naval and aerial blockade. That is a very important iea~c. why Herr Hitler wants the return ot the colonies.