THE WAR NEWS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 60, Issue 4231, 15 January 1940, Page 5

THE WAR NEWS

SUMMARY OF THE SITUATION. INCREASING ACTIVITY. Some indication of the readiness of the British and French air forces is contained in the statement by the Air Ministry that the Royal Air Force carried out an extensive reconnaissance over Bohemia, Austria and eastern Germany on Friday evening’. Another visit was paid to the German base in the Bight of Heligoland. The claim is made that all the raidip's machines returned safely. Leaf1V were dropped over Vienna and Prague. Clear frosty days—harbingers of the spring—are encouraging much air activity in the war zones. Both sides have been busy on reconnaissance over the Western Front, and there have been a number of dogfights within sight of the lines.

Taking advantage of the good flying conditions the enemy on Thursday carried out scattered “information raids” over the east coast districts of England and Scotland. No bombs were dropped and seemingly no raiders brought down, though several were engaged by British fighters and chased out to sea.

It is officially announced that a new type of R.A.F. fighter is in mass production. This machine, the existence of which has hitherto been kept secret, is claimed to have a performance which will surprise the enemy. What is more, the announcement adds, it will be used in impressive numbers.

A minor mystery has been created by conflicting reports of the R.A.F. raid on the German Island of Sylt. The first reports stated that the raid began about 1 a.m. on January 11, and both enemy and neutral accounts were to the effect that air fighting and anti-aircraft action continued, on and off, unil 4 o’clock in the afternoon of that day. The Air Ministry, however, states that the reports of long-continued action are without foundation—that there were no British machines in the area after 1 a.m.

German machines are again flying over Belgium, whose Government is protesting to the Nazi authorities at this violation of neutrality. It is reported from Helsinki that the new Russian attack at Salla (in the northern part of the Finnish “waist”) has been repulsed and a' renewed Red drive south from Petsamo also halted. Finnish encircling movements have begun.

The Russians are reported to be massing huge numbers of men and munitions at various points along the Finnish border, and also at Leningrad and Baltiski, Estonia. Four hundred thousand men are being massed facing the Mannerheim Line, Karelia. Meantime the Finns are strengthening their positions, and they control the central sectors, thus cutting off communications between the Murmansk and Leningrad Commands. It is stated that 400 Russian aeroplanes took part in a raid over a considerable portion of Finland, but seemingly the damage done was by no means commensurate with the magnitude of the enterprise. A “New York Times” correspondent discerns in Scandinavia a firming of the attitude of the respective Governments towards bullying Nazi diplomacy. Even Denmark, whose relations with the Reich make it difficult for her to be uncompromising, is displaying a stubborn unwillingness to trim her foreign policy to a pattern approved by Berlin. “It seems to be finally dawning on the Scandinavians,” the correspondent adds, “that they have been sliding too long on a slope of concession, and that all will perish unless they stand together.” This realisation on the part of small neutrals—if it has indeed come about—seems to date from January 5, when it became known that Germany intended to regard continued membership of the League of Nations as a. breach of neutrality, on the ground that the League “is dominated by Britain and France.” Time may prove this to have been one of Hitler’s far - reaching diplomatic blunders.

A Dutch report states that the leaders of the Nazi trade mission to Russia is back in Berlin. He is assisting Hitler and Goering (recently appointed economic head of the Reich) to seek a plan which will replace the trade agreement with Russia, arranged in the autumn. It appears that Russia has been unable to keep up deliveries, thus upsetting the agreement. Hitler, the report adds, has agreed to assist Red industries by sending economists and engineers to Russia as long as the engineers are not used to further the Soviet campaign against Finland. This last is seen as a concession to Italy. The French Minister of the Navy claims that 400 German ships are shut up in neutral ports, and that German sea-borne trade has been abolished everywhere but in the Baltic. The French Navy has sunk ten U-boats, examined 239 vessels, and intercepted 622,000 tons of merchandise bound for Germany. This is in addition to British successes.

A circumstantial story comes concerning the capture of the German vessel Dusseldorf, which was taken to Bermuda. As the German crew was transferred, at sea, to the capturing vessel (the Despatch) one was heard to remark that the prize crew would not get far with the vessel. Inferring that a time bomb ha<l been set. the Despatch’s captain ordered the German crew back to the Dusseldorf again, and told them to find the time bomb or be blown up. They found the bomb. Italy is said to be steadily advancing her prestige in Balkan countries, and the prospects of continued peace in that area are much brighter. If Germany or Russia invade either of the Balkan countries there is every prospect that they will have to face a Balkan bloc headed by Italy, and comprising Rumania, Hungary. Yugoslavia, Greece, Bulgaria, and, of course. Albania, which is now part of Italy.

A statutory first offender for drunkenness, a Maori arrested on Saturday, was charged this morning before Mi- W. Swain, J.P., and convicted and discharged.