WAR SITUATION

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21421, 15 May 1941, Page 7

WAR SITUATION

REVIEW BY MR AMERY FIGHT TO VICTORY ALL RESOURCES NEEDED (Orn-M.-il Wireless) (Received May 15. 11.40 a.m.) RUGBY, May 14 Mr L. C. Amery, speaking at Coventry, said: “To judge the actual war situation it is necessary to see it in its true perspective. A year ago the German Army and Air Force were sweeping irresistibly across Holland and Belgium. Within a few weeks the splendid army of France, the mainstay of European freedom on land, was shattered like a pane of glass into helpless fragments and France herself, dazed and bewildered, allowed herself to be handed over, bound and gagged, to a merciless conqueror. “Here we had a handful of trained soldiers, salvaged miraculously at the sacrifice of all their equipment, and a larger force of men, both un-

trained and unequipped, for modern war. Nothing was wanted to assure for Hitler that triumphant entry into London whose date he had already fixed but a few days’ command of the air over the Channel and Southern England, and for that he looked confidently to the overwhelming air force. “While the heart of the Empire was thus in immediate deadly peril, General Sir Archibald Wavell, at its main gateway in the Middle East, was facing Italian forces three or four times stronger than his own on each side of him. What happened? “The first air battle of Britain last autumn, the world’s first great air battle and perhaps its most decisive one, put an end to all Hitler’s dreams of walking into and over our unarmed England. “The second air and submarine battle, covering Britain and its Atlantic approaches, is in progress. It calls for all our energy and skill to meet it. We shall see it through, and however long it continues Hitler will be no nearer the goal of his ambition here than he was when he gave up the first Battle of Britain six months ago. Italian Armies Annihilated “In the Mediterranean General Wavell’s brilliant campaigns not only annihilated both the Italian armies which had been so laboriously assembled for his destruction, but actually enabled him to do what no one could have dreamt of last autumn, the despatch of a substantial force to support the Greeks in their heroic and most amazing stand agajinst overwhelming forces. “The strain thrown upon Germany in the wholly unexpected campaign in the Balkans may well have thrown out of gear the whole of Hitler’s plans for a victorious march across Turkey. Its effect upon Germany’s communications and sources of supply may well, indeed, only be felt fully in the course of the coming months. Together with our unconquerable Greek allies we hold Crete, with its immensely important strategical position. “What is far more important than these purely military gains is the proof we have given to the world that we know how to stand by our friends.” Emphasising that this is a total war, not only in the sense that all share its dangers but that all must be in it to the last ounce of energy, Mr Amery added: “It is a matter in which every individual has his own personal duty to fulfil. It is also a matter in which it is for all who naturally or officially are looked to for leadership to give a clear lead,