NOTES ON WAR NEWS

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XXXX, Issue 9682, 20 June 1941, Page 4

NOTES ON WAR NEWS

I£KT MOVE 7G St Em By HITLER WHERE WILL IT BE? MATTER KEPT WELL IN DARK The news during the last few clays does not directly throw any movo sight on the question of Hitler's next move. Rather is there an attempt in more than one direction to keep it dark, whatever it is. This is in keeping' with the usual methods of the war of nerves. Moscow has issued a denial of any German demands on the Soviet Union, but there is no denial of the presence of German ;roops on Germany's eastern frontier, which, says the Soviet spokesman, are there for "some other reason" which has "nothing to do with the GermanSoviet relations." There is nothing in the Soviet statement which, in the normal interpretation of diplomatic utterances these days, is irreconcilable with the story of a massive German threat to Russia. A Finnish correspondent of a Swiss newspaper is reported as telephoning a statement that Germany has already made far-reaching demands on the Soviet, when his call was cut off. There is further the report in a Swedish newspaper of the cancellation of all leave in the German army and the calling up of the 1000 and 1023 classes for military service. The explanation of these measures is given as a determination to end the war at the earliest possible moment. In other words, Germany is making a supreme effort this summer.

INVASION ARTICLE One of the alternative explanations put forward of the German concentrations on the Russian frontier was that it was an attempt to lull the British into a belief that the invasion of Britain has been postponed On this point the curious story about Dr. Goebbels' article in the "Volkischer Beobachter" on the coming invasion of Britain has a bearing. In the article Goebbels said that the apparent German inactivity heralded great action. The lesson of Creic had been learned, and he went on to jeer at Britain's anti-invasion mea-

sures. Churchill would be as astonished, he said, at the events of the next two months as he had been in Hie past. The issue of the newspaper containing this article is reported to have been confiscated by officials of the Reich, but no reasons are given for this act. Further, General, Antonescu, Rumania's arch-quisling, on his return from Berlin, is reported as saying that Germany has created a new diplomatic front against Britain and work on it is proceeding night and day.

PROPAGANDA AND TRUTH This is the news, and there is little in it to help to distinguish what is deliberate propaganda in a "war of nerves" and what is truth. But it does seem a fact that the Germans are withdrawing, or have withdrawn, from Syria, where the Allied advance is progressing steadily, more, so far as a political penetration to get rid of German influence than as a military campaign of serious conquest. In any event the occupation of Syria will establish direct communication between the Allies and Turkey by a satisfactory system ot railways, so that help may he given to Turkey, M' necessary, without recourse to the perilous sea route to Istanbul through the enemy-infested waters of the Aegean Sea. Elsewhere the news is generally good. The industrial centre of the Ruhr, the greatest in Germany, has been plastered by the R.A.F. as never before, and off the coast of Norway one of the two remaining "pocket-battleships," the

Lutzow or the Admiral Scheer, lias ; been hit and seriously damaged by a • torpedo launched from the air. Jimma, the last important Italian strongj hold in Abyssinia, has been surrounded and its fall cannot be long dolay- [ ed. Assab, the last Italian port on the Red Sea, is already in British possession. A NEW DIVE-BOMBER A new dive-bomber for the United Slates Navy Is reported to have surpassed all hopes. As described in the cabled report published last week 1 it is a very remarkable machine—faster than any other type (of divebomber), with longer range and able to carry four times the bomb-load of the Junkers machines—2ooolb as against 5001 b. The figures quoted are probably not fully reliable, and the alleged diving speed of 500 miles iui hour can be taken with caution. Dive-bombing cannot be done at such speeds, for several reasons. One is that accurate aiming, which Is the principal object of dive-bombing, Is far more difficult. This and some other technical (roubles may have been overcome, liui paramount is the limitation imposed by the airman's body. There is no limit to the speed at which a man can fly; after all, everybody in New Zealand is travelling at about 800 miles an hour without knowing it. But there is a limit, and a very early one, to the change of velocity which he can stand; and when a dive-bomber "pulls out" of ils dive, a terrific strain is put not only on the ma? i chine but on the man in it. The same effect has had a profound effect upon the use of high-speed fighter I aircraft. Hitherto dive-bombers have been built with speeds up to 800 j miles an hour; the German Stnkaa J fly at 240. But when they dive, (hey put out flaps which act as powerful brakes, so that they actually have to he pulled down by (heir engines; and these brakes no doubt contribute to the terrifying noise which is characteristic of (heir offensive pcrforninacc. ,