BRITAIN'S STAND

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 180, 1 July 1940, Page 6

BRITAIN'S STAND

the chances weighed STREAM OF REINFORCEMENTS i ' I Historical parallels are mislead- 1 ing, ancl though this one could be I pursued for some distance it would 1 be fruitless to do so, even though 1 the Continental system equates Hit- 1 ler's land blockade of Britain and the artillery bombardment of Napoleon maw be put aside Tor his successor's faith in intensive bombing. But both incurred a similar peril, due to the fact that they embarked on systematic conquest. It cannot be expected that Germany can hold down the nations i of Europe any more than France could do so. And as Napoleon ultimately fell because he trusted Russia, so Hitler may find the non- ; aggression pact another Treaty o? < Tilsit. I A Menace to Russia. ' ] For Avliatever is certain, this ; 4s uncertain: a Germany dominant on { the European mainland and even ( yet lacking the foodstuffs which , are essential io her must come into collision with Stalin's Russia be- j cause it is to the east that the foo-i j lands lie, and expansion there is n j threat to the Russians. f In the next phase, as Mr Church- a ill and Mr Dulf Cooper have warn- d cd the British people, air bombard- ] jnent and an attempt to invade Rri- ( tain may be expected. It must be i remembered that if Britain is at-i | tacked in the air she can hit back; ( -that she has a growing streamoof. f Teinforcements coming ' across the Atlantic, and that the factories in which these new planes are built' t are out of bombing range. j Position at Sea. On the Sea, so long as Germany does not succeed in obtaining the French fleet (which she might not be able to operate successfully if she got it) the odds are still heavily in favour of Britain, and that means j the oceans of the world are still open to her. In consequence it is < likely that Germany will atttmpt to strike at the West Coast- ports, j through which the trade of Britain is now routed as much as possible. The form of these blows may be i held doubtful at the moment. It is i certain that there will ,be air raids, | but the concentration of. the British ' fighter force is likely to make these much more costly than ever before, i It is possible that air raids will be reinforced by attacks on the part of 1 Germany's air battalions. It .is also possible that, in striking at Britain Hitler will strike first at the Irish Free State which has adopted a pol- . Icjr of neutrality and is Britain's vulnerable spot in the west.