WOUNDED LION AT BAY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 64, 17 March 1942, Page 5

WOUNDED LION AT BAY

BRITAIN’S PERIL GREATER THIN LAST JULY FIGHTING AGAINST ODDS Rugby, March 15. “Let no man doubt that our peril today is far greater than it was last July,” said the Parliamentary Undersecretary of War, Lord Croft, at Colchester. “We now have a most powerful naval, military, and air foe, in Japan, whom we have to fight right at the other end of the world. This means ships—ships to take our troops and their supplies, tanks, and weapons, to far corners of the earth, ships to carry aircraft across the wide oceans, and. above all, ships for the Navy, to protect these huge convoys and smash the fleets of Japan, Germany, ana Italy when they < an get at them. “I ask you to stamp out fretful and querulous criticism, which is simplv playing the enemy’s game. The forces of evil are now spread all over the globe, and their utter defeat demands all the force we can use, all our determination, all our will power, and above everything, all our unity. “We have been wounded Dy blows—deep and grievous—delivered 15,00 C miles away by sea from these shores. It has never been the habit, however, of this lion-hearted race to go soft or craven when it has received punishment. On the contrary, when this lion is wounded he gets more dangerous and more fierce. His next spring is all the more violent and heroic because of whjit he has suffered. i “The Russians, after appalling disaster, when all appeared lost, suddenly turned round, hit back, and drove the enemy along the whole o! their front. We have never suffered as great a peril as that, and we British people will not be behind our allies in resilience and determination. “When in an hour sea power was j wrested from our American friends and allies in the East, our strategic defence for the moment crumbled, and our small military formations, seriously outnumbered, had to meet great Japanese forces landed from the sea. “Do you realise that of four divisions in Malaya and two from India, each has been fighting all down the Malaya Peninsula day and night for 10 weeks against great odds?”—B.O.W.