THE WAR, STEP BY STEP

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 106, 5 January 1940, Page 8

THE WAR, STEP BY STEP

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3rd ,j * ■ U•••'' " • 1 1 The German liner Tacoma (82(58 tons) which was acting as supply ship to the Admiral Graf Spec, and which has remained in Montevideo since the scuttling of the battleship, lias been interned for the dura tion of the war. It is reported from Hamburg thai; the Ki,7:r_> ton liner St Louis has re ac he d Germany. Hitler sends New Year message to Nazi Tarty and says he is convinced of victory. Japanese financier Ilisaakira Kano compares Allies and German resources and predicts that the war will have reached a turning point in favour of the Allies by Easter. Two German aeroplanes ilew over the Shetland Islands and dropped bombs. One 'plane, power-diving on to a warship, dropped two bombs both of which missed. Air Ministry believes that one 'piano was shot down. Coastal Command aircraft shoot doAvn German aeroplane. The Berlin High Command admits the stranding of a patrol boa'; with the loss of two lives. 'British freighter Box Hill (5(577 tons) sunk in the North Sea. Twenty, casualties. U-boat shells a trawler. Deckhand killed and the lemainder of the crew are adrift in mi open boat for 12 hours. The tanker San Delfino was beach ed and the crow of 41 landed when the vessel was damaged by a mine. The Norwegian cargo steamer Luna torpedoed without warning in the North Sea. British liner rescues

crew. A French warship sank a German submarine oil the coast of Spain. The Admiralty announces that 1454 vessels, of a gross tonnage of 3,048,000, entered or cleared British ports in ten days between December 11 and 20. The Italian Government has instructed its Ambassador to Moscow to return on leave. This is a sequel to the recall of the Russian envoy to Rome, M. Gorelkin, on December 13, which is interpreted as a Soviet protest against the Rome demonstrations concerning Finland. The Berlin official news agency claims that a U-boat sank the British patrol ship Agathe on December 20. The Admiralty states that no British naval ship was sunk on that date, and there is no Agathe in the' British Navy. H.M.S. Ajax, flying the flag of Rear-Admiral Sir Henry Harwood, will shortly pay a courtesy visit to Montevideo, should the consent of the Uruguayan Government be forth coming. THURSDAY, JANUARY 4th Germany has issued a warning that she might enter the Russo-Fin-nish conflict if British soldiers appeared on Finnish soil or if Allied shipments of munitions to 1' inland reached decisive proportions.

It is denied that Stalin has requested 200,000 expert engineers and technicians from Germany to reorganise Soviet economy and industry. It had previously been reported that Stalin has asked Hitler lot these men and was offering good salaries. It is reported that Russia will be unable to carry on the campaign in Finland without immediate help from skilled men, upon the despatch of whom continued TUisso-Ger man collaboration largely depends. It is questionable whether Germany can spare the skilled men. The King has awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross to two New Zealanders, Kenneth Neil Gray, of Christchurch, a pilot, and Frank Hugh Long, of Masterton, a navigator. for a night reeonnaisance of enemy territory in a November snowstorm.

Air Ministry announces that there has been intense aerial: activity over the North Sea and the neighbourhood of the German coast. A formation* of three bombers encountered a squadron of twelve Messerschmitt long-range lighters well out to sea, and the formation, although outnumbered, gave battle to the enemy. Three enemy 'planes were shot down and two of the British bombers have not returned to their base. Italy's Policy. The Italian Foreign Office newspaper "ReLnzioni Internationale" says that Signor Mussolini's policy* in regard to Bolshevism has not deviated. It states that the three great Mediterranean peninsulars,, are bound by civilisation and a common destiny. If Bolshevism penetrated any one of them the whole Mediterranean would be endangered. This is taken as meaning that Italy willl resist any attempt by Russia to campaign through the Balkans. Air Raids. An enemy 'plane over the Shotlands disappeared when British fighters went up. No bombs were dropped. The Berlin High Command claims that the Shetland raiders returned with, valuable information, but admits that one was down at sea. Soviet Menace. It is reliably stated that Turkey is reinforcing her Eastern and North Eastern defences. There are new concentrations in Diyarbekir, in Kurdistan, Erzindjan, AnatoLia and the Soviet Caucasian border.

It is understood that the new dispositions will increase the military forces in East Turkey by about one-third. Simultaneously it is confirmed that Iran and Afghanistan are continuing to strengthen their armies on the Russian frontier. Rumania is reported to have recently withdrawn three divisions from Bessarabia. It is believed that Russia will press South between the Pruth river and the Carpathians. Rumania is concentrating thirty-two divisions on her Northern frontiers. Renewed Assaults. The Russians have renewed fierce attacks on the Mannerheim Line, trying to rush vital positions with masses of men and material. Russian artillery has been pounding the Finnish lines for a day and n half. All reports agree that the Finns so far have not yielded an inch. Danish Prime Minister says that he is depressed about the future. It is officially announced thai H.M.S. Ajax will be permitted to visit Montevideo and stay there for two days on a courtesy call. It is reported that a Swedish steamer has been sunk by a mine oft' the 'English coast. The United States of America has formally protested to Britain against the seizure of American mail bound | for Germany. The protest is receivj ing the consideration of the British Government.

WAR BRIEFS j I French Socialists. I The Socialist group in the French Chamber of Deputies by an almost unanimous vote has resolved "that France entered into war solely to fulfil the most imperative duty of human solidarity towards a friendly 'people Avhich has been -the victim of an abominable aggression . . . France and Britain would never have entered upon war for an ideological crusade . . . War has been imposed upon them by the highest moral obligation and it must end by a peace which protects our country from all aggression and permits the establishment between people of economic co-operation to repair all the evil caused by violence during the past 25 years." Economic General Staff. Before the outbreak of the war Lord Stamp had a roving commission as advisor upon the Government's economic war plans, in collaboration with two other leading economists, Mr Henry Clay and Mr H. D. Henderson. Lord Stamp now advises a Ministerial Committee which has been set up under the Chancellor of the Exchequer and i presides over an inter-Depaitmental i Committee composed of Permanent Heads of departments, the two together forming a kind of economic general staff.