WAR TOPICS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 274, 26 February 1941, Page 6

WAR TOPICS

WHO ARE THEY ? BRITAIN'S DEFENCE CHIEFS This is u partial lis! only oi .;ome of the chief ligures in liritnms XavaJ, Military and Air Forces, with deUvHs of their ages ami Iheir background: — Admiral of the Fleet. Sir Dudley / Pound, aged ('>:>, son of a business man. Ilis mother was an American, from Boston. Admiral Sir A. Cunningham, aged ."57, Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, son (if a professor. Admiral Sir William .Tames,, aged 59. .son of tin army imfjor. Admiral Richard Bell Davics, V.C., son of a retired business mar.. Vice-Admiral Siv Guy Roylc, aged 55, Commander of the Fleet Air Arin„ son of a business man, Vice-Admiral Jock Whitworth, who led the attack on Narvik, son of an army major. General Lord Gort, aged ">l, who commands the British ]%x'pedi! :onai> Forcc in France,, son of the sth Viscount Gort and the only peer by birth to become a commander-in-chief. Field Marshal Sir Edmund Ironside, aged 60, son of an army surgeon. General Sir John Dill, aged 59, Chief of the Imperial General Stafr, son of an Irish business man. General Alan Brooke, aged 57,, Commander-in-Chief of the regular forces in Britain; son of a Ist baronet . General Sir Archibald Wavell, aged 57, Commander of the British Forces in the East, son of a majorgeneral. Lieut-General Sir Walter Venning aged 58, Quartermaster-General of the British Forces, son of a Ceylon Civil Servant.

General Sir Walter Kiike, aged 03, -who retired rcc.cntly from the command of the British Home Forccs, son of an army colonel.

'Air Chief Marshal Sir Cyril Newall, aged. 50, former Chief of the lAir Staff, son of an army colonel.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Edgar Eud-low-Hewitt, aged 51, in spec tor-gen-eral of the Royal Air Force, son of a parson. Air Chief Marshal C. F. A. Portal, aged' 47, chief of the Air Staff, son of a business man. He rose from the ranks. General Sir F. 'Pile, aged 50, Chief of the Anti-aircraft Defences of Britain, son of a Ist baronet. Air Marshal Sir William Mitchell, aged 52, appointed early in the war to the command of the Royal Air Force in the East, son of a Sydney business man. Air Vice-Marshal Patrick PlayfaiT, aged 51. who commended the British Air Force in France, son of a doctor. NAVAL VICTORIES WAR IN THE DOCKYARD Naval victories are being Avon in the dockyards as well as on the high seas. A slim, grey vessel which I watched, putting to sea to-day represents a triumph for the Navy's lit-tle-known civilian branch, the constructors and repair workers (a correspondent of v. London newspaper ■wrote recently).

T'his ship—an escort vessel of the type known as a corvette —was a

■victim of a German mine. Yet today she took the water again, a ship as good as new—and rebuilt at less cost, in less time and with less material than would have been required for a .new one. Most impressive Is the speed with Tvhich this kind of work is carried out. Jobs which in peace time would "take weeks are finished in a few days. Sucli speeding-up lias been achieved parity by overtime and night wot!;, partly l\v the adoption of un*orlho.l'.x methods. Acetylene welding. for instance, has been used wljcrei peacc-tinie practice would specified riveting. Fine finish, too, is sacrificed to speed. Refitting a submarine is one of a dockyard's longest jobs. One sct of technicians cannot begin until the previous set has finished. Moreover, space is so confined that not many men can work at once. Yi'i. by careful planning and by working night shifts this dockvsml has been able to rodr.ee a submarine's refitting time to a I'ew weeks. A specialty here is the fitting out of balloon-carrying craft for convoy and harbour protection. In 12 days a Scottish drifter is turned into a I>i; !1: >or. - car ric r.