ELUSIVE VICTORY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 124, 29 May 1941, Page 10

ELUSIVE VICTORY

THE QUEST OF HITLER

TOUGHNESS OF BRITAIN DEFEATING NAZIS Rugby, May 25. i The well-known journalist, Mr. Vernon Bartlett, in a broadcast “postscript” said: "On every occasion since this war began when British fighting men have come right up against German fighting men they have shown a courage, confidence, and toughness which surely leave no doubt about our ultimate success. These qualities have been so striking that they have made Hitler’s victories look singularly incomplete. He wins battle after battle, but he does not win the war. The, Dunkirk Achievement "Just a year ago the British Army was cut off in France, and the German Press announced triumphantly that the whole of this expeditionary force would be destroyed or captured. It should have been, for Hitler's army was achieving one of the most remarkable victories in history; in the space of a few days it had broken through on a colossal scale, in spite of great defences of the Maginot Line, and the British had their backs to the sea. “But the way in which the ships of every kind and crews of every kind went across to Dunkirk to bring the army home thrilled the world and inspired the world far more than this proof of German might and German thoroughness. "The same thing happened in the late summer, when the R.A.F. won the air battle of Britain against such incredible odds. Those of us whose feet were on the ground heard day after day the noise of fighting miles above us in the sky and hardly dared believe the figures of casualties that were published each evening. "Quite honestly, I personally did not believe them till I had visited squadrons of the Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and had a chance of seeing the care with which the pilot’s statements were examined. “Again Hitler, in spite of his overwhelming numbers, did not. win lhe war. The Attack on Civilians "The same thing happened in September, when he tried out the attack on the civilians. He destroyed hundreds of homes. He brought great misery and suffering. "But the clerks and typists, shopkeepers and labourers washerwomen and bus drivers cleared up the mess he had caused, refused to believe that they ought to be shouting surrender, and carried on with the job. "In Libya there was an amazing victory which remains amazing, even though we have had to give up most of lhe territory we won. In Greece the forces of the Empire have fought a rearguard action quite as remarkable in its way as the withdrawal from France. "Several times lhe Germans must have been convinced that, they had won this war, and the whole world outside this Empire was convinced that, they had won it. They had not won it. They will not win it.” 8.0.W.