BRITAIN STILL EXPECTS ATTACK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 222, 18 September 1940, Page 7

BRITAIN STILL EXPECTS ATTACK.

CHURCHILL SPEAKS. Nazi Preparations Being Closely Watched. ~w; . British Official Wireless. (Reed. 1 p.m.) RUGBY, Sept. 17. The Prime Minister, Mr. Winston Churchill, in a brief statement in the House of Commons, said: ''The deployment of German barges and ships in preparation for the invasion of Great Britain and Ireland continues steadily, and we must expect Hitler to make an attempt at what he judges the best opportunity. "All our preparations must therefore be maintained in a state of vigilance. The process of waiting keyed up to concert pitch, day after day is apt in time to lose the charm of novelty, and there is no doubt that it imposes a heavy strain on all concerned, but we must not underrate the damage inflicted upon the enemy by heavy and prolonged nightly bombing upon his concentration of shipping and upon all focal points of bis assembly of troops. Undoubtedly serious injury has been done to hie ships and barges. "Meanwhile, our strength develops steadily by land, sea, and, above all, in the air. Sunday's action was the most brilliant and fruitful of any fought upon a large scale by fighters of the R.A.F. up to the present. The figures have already been made public to the best of my belief, and I made searching inquiries and several cross-checks, and they are not in any way exaggerated. The German Air Force. "Neither side has yet employed more than a portion of its forces, but there is good reason for believing at present that very grievous inroads are being made upon the enemy's superiority of numbers, and that we may await the decision of a prolonged air battle with sober but increasing confidence. "German attacks upon the civil population have been concentrated mainly upon London in the hopes of terrorising citizens into submission or throw them into confusion and also in the silly idea that they will put pressure upon the Government to make peace." Mr. Churchill added that during the first half of September about 2000 civilians, men, women and children, had been killed and about 8000 wounded by air bombardment.

"Deliberate repeated attacks upon Buckingham Palace and upon the persons of our beloved King and Queen are also intended, apart from their general barbarity, to have an unsettling effect upon public opinion. They have, of course, the opposite effect. They unite the King and Queen to their people by new sacred bonds of common danger, and they steel all hearts to stern, unrelenting prosecution of the war with so foul a foe."