HAPPENINGS IN WAR THEATRES

Waikato Times, Volume 126, Issue 21034, 9 February 1940, Page 5

HAPPENINGS IN WAR THEATRES

MR CHAMBERLAINS STATEMENT BRUTALITY OF THE ENEMY EMPHASISED ALLIES HAVE EVERY REASON FOR CONFIDENCE (Official Wireless) (Received Feb. 9, 12.30 p.m.) RUGBY, February 8 Reviewing in the House of Commons the happenings in the war theatres the I’rime Minister said there was no change in the military situation on the Western Front. In the air the winter conditions had exposed men and material to the sternest test, which has been borne unflinchingly. Mr Chamberlain said there were so few events of importance to record that he wished he could lighten the darkness about the Supreme War Council meeting held in Paris last Monday and give the House an account of the proceedings, but none would desire him to be guilty of the folly of making such a generous gift to the enemy. He added: "I have the impression that as the weeks pass the Council is steadily growing in importance and will become not merely a convenient means of harmonising the views of the two Governments, hut will become a vital instrument in the successful prosecution of the war. ’ Mr Chamberlain mentioned a very skillul combined operation by which naval patrol vessels and a Royal Air Force flying boat had succeeded in destroying a submarine which ventured to attack a convoy. German air attacks on British and neutral ships of increased intensity were claimed by the enemy as a great victory in the war against British shipping. These raids generally were carried out on days when low thick clouds covered the shipping lanes. They were made by aeroplanes singly or in pairs at widely separate points and it appears instructions have been given the enemy pilots to do their utmost to avoid contact with British defences. “But,” said Mr Chamberlain, “On February 3 our fighters were given their opportunity. The German wireless took the unusual course of admitting three enemy aircraft out of the comparatively small number operating had been lost, and we know that at least one other was so badly damaged that it probably was unable to reach its base.” The Premier insisted that the succc ses claimed by Germany for this method of attack bore no relation to facts. Mr Chamberlain went on to condemn the callous brutality of the enemy, and dwelt in particular on the attack on the lightship East Dudgeon. The only survivor of a crew of eight tells the story in these words: “We were not alarmed because on previous occasions the German pilots waved to us and left us alone, but on this occasion the bomber dived suddenly sprayed the deck with machine gun bullets, and later dropped nine bombs, the last of which hit the ship.” The dead bodies of seven of the defenceless crew w T ere found next morning on the seashore. “The killing of fishermen, merchant seamen and lightship crews in the circumstances I have related is not war but murder.” The Premier concluded: “No one who studies the figures can doubt the determination of the British Empire to throw all its resources into die fight against the rule of aggression. We cannot tell how long the fight may last nor what stern trials may yet await us, but we have no reason to be dissatisfied with the opening phases of the war, and we face the future with calm determination and unshaken confidence.”