BATTLE FOR BRITAIN

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21245, 16 October 1940, Page 8

BATTLE FOR BRITAIN

FIRST BRITISH FILMS THRILLING AIR COMBATS The Battle for Britain is on and the first British movie pictures of the blitzkrieg have arrived in Hamilton. Revealing the strength of England's preparedness, the alertness and determination of very man and woman, and the might of our Army, Navy, and Air Force, the newsreel inspires confidence in ultimate victory for the Empire. The keynote ~ of the film is the obvious fact that "» Britons’ are fighting because they I have a just cause and Nazi ruth- 1 lessness has aroused them to a calm determination to overcome the menace. At a special preview today of the two British newsreels which have arrived by Clipper mail for screening at the Civic Theatre, representatives of the Army Department in Hamilton and of the press saw Eritons at their grim task of defending the “last bastion of freedom.” “The silent service,” the Royal Navy, was seen in all its glory convoying the precious cargos to feed England, and London's ducks were pictured, working at full pressure despite Nazi bombing and fruitless attacks on convoys from the air and from batteries on the French coast. A cargo of New Zealand mutton was seen unloading. Home Guard and Women's Auxiliaries were doing a big war job, preparing to meet invasion, while glimpses of Britain’s regulars at training in their powerful mechanised units, coast guards rehearsing to beat off any German landing, and coast battci les barking, gave the solution to the query why Hitler has not attacked. “The R.A.F. to the rescue," comments the announcer, and Britain's Spitfires are seen in action. Scores oi machines in the air in frenzied combat are pictured, while the “graveyard" of Nazi aeroplane wreckage shows effectively the toll that the R.A.F. has taken. Britains’. cheery pilots and massive bombers are film- o ed. too. while a map showing the o points in Germany that have been bombed indicates that the length and breadth of the enemy’s soil has been plastered.