UNITY IS STRENGTH

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVII, Issue 21507, 21 November 1939, Page 7

UNITY IS STRENGTH

Allies Have Pooled Resources Early Organisation British Official Wireless RUGBY. November 19. The early attainment of complete British and French co-ordination in the sphere of joint war activities receives approving notice in the Sunday papers. The “Sunday Times” comments that co-operation in such matters will help to determine the war result no less than the dispositions of ships and troops, and points out the absurdity resulting from the competitive functions of munitions and raw materials. Nevertheless, the editorial continues, such needs are easier to see than to meet, and satisfactory co-operation machinery could not have been so quickly established but for the experience of the last war. “Working on that, the Allies have succeeded after two months in reaching a point which took' them about three years to attain.” Then greater difficulty was the attainment of unity of military policy, which was not then solved from the beginning of the war. Well Prepared Preparation is again much advanced as the fruits of experience. Although 200,000 men were recruited in 1914 in two months, the clothing and equipment problem was not solved until much later, and the departure of the Expeditionary Force almost denuded England of troops. Turning to the present war. the editorial continues. “But this time the first week of the war found us with something like a million men under arms in this island, and the first batch of militiamen, who had been embodied six weeks earlier, already getting on well with their organisation and training, more than outnumbered the first two Kitchener contingents taken together. Since then others have been called up, and there also has been a large intake of volunteers." Again, on the naval side, economic warfare did not begin until three years after the outbreak of war, whereas in the present war German cargoes which in 1914-15 were allowed to enter Germany, thereby prolonging the struggle, Were intercepted from the beginning Ly the Navy, working at concert pitch. “Unity Is Strength” “Unity,’ the editorial concludes, “is a form of strength, and we have done well this time to cultivate it early. The ' Observer.’ in r commentary >n the importance of the arrangements, takes the opportunity of appreciating the Immensity of the French action. The main war actions, so far, have been at sea, and this may Lave tended to make the British people take for granted the magnificent part played by the French. Not sufficiently appreciated is the effect on civil life of a mobilised army of 5,000,000 men, hut the effect of this magnificent army is apt to be lost behind tiie reiterated "Quiet night” of the French communiques. “When in the last war the massed German forces battered at Verdun, the whole French people answered. ‘Us ne passeront pas,’ and proved it by formidable strength in action. “Quiet Night’ Communiques “To-day the reiterated French communiques about a "quiet night prove them a more formidable truth. For ten weeks the massed German forces have not launched an attack. The Maginot Line has presented a ’quiet deterrenc ”

In the air and at sea France has shown as great a spirit. Even greater Is the moral unity which, concludes the editorial, may be summed up in tl e words used by President Le Brun on greeting the new British Ambassador: “Tiie two nations have pooled all their sons and all their resources in a conflict which has been forced upon them.” German Ships Seized A French communique states that during the preceding four weeks, the tonnage of German cargoes taken by our ships is greater by several thousands of tons than that of French freighters lost through enemy action.