WAR TOPICS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 298, 28 April 1941, Page 7

WAR TOPICS

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THE HELPLESS CREDITOR

HOW GERMANY BLEEDS DENMARK The Danish Minister to the United States refused to recognise Copenhagen's order to return because the Danish Government, he said, Was under Nazi duress. This followed his signing of an agreement to permit the United States to establish air bases in Greenland* .There Is no doubt about the duress. Denmark did not resist the Nazi ■ onslaught but she h;is been treated harshly to-day is enslaved by the After eight monthsoccupation Denmark had an outstanding clearing account with Germany of 400,- ■ 000,000 kroner. That meant a German debt of about £20,'*0,000 for which amount Denmark theoretically is entitled to buy goods in Germany. But the latter neither can, nor will, supply tha goods required, and it appears clear fronu ail official Danish statements that even the promises of very limited fuel deliveries have been broken. As information of the required l foodstuffs is impossible, Danish farmers have had to rcducc. stocks whether they wanted to sell or not, and tha result is tlr.it the stocks of cattle, pigs and poultry are now halved. The farmers are paid, with money which the National Bank must produce, but the country as such must give credit on the clearing account. That is not the whole storv. Denalso must pay for the honour of being "protected" by an army of occupation, and the latest information is to the effect that the' price ■ ■amounts to about 40,000.000 kroner •-a month. The whole State Budget of Denmark before the war amounted to only 500 or 600 million kroner a yqar. This process of piling up a debt which cannot be liquidated is the .■method devised by Dr. Schacht for the Nazis long before the war. By 'this means Germany obtained a stranglehold on the economic machinery of her victims. When the -army went in, Nazi violence completed the bankrupting process commenced during peace. ALL HIS TRICKS FOR USE AGAINST BRITAIN HITLER'S INVASION IN MAY " Louis Johnson, former American A'ssistant-Secretary of War, thinks I Hitler Avill try his invasion of the JBritish Isles in May, by when he expects to have finished his Balkan adventure. Incidentally, it is noted that Mr Johnson was quite convinc- . Ed that an invasion of Greece and the "reduction'' of Yugoslavia would take place this, month. Mr Johnson said recently in an interview in New York that Hitler i was "known f o have manufactured 700,000 British uniforms, an equal number of parachutes, and quantities of chrome and arsenic gases for iin invasion of England." He said he believed that if England could hold out until the middle ■of next summer, "Hitler can never take the British Isles and can never win the war." *£ Mr Johnson said he feared Rum ■sia's intentions more than "nothing else in the world." "Stalin, in my opinion, seeks to fertilise the soil of all the world for Avorld revolution," he said. "I think lie hopes the hour will come when England is about ready to lick Germany, and that then before it can finally be done, Communism can step in and takq Germany. To me, Communism is the greatest menace of all."

FAITH IN DEMOCRACY DR. BENES CONFIDENT "The German collapse will come probably in the Spring of 1042," said Dr. Edward Benes, President ol the Provisional Czechoslovak Government, recently in answer to T. A. Raman, the noted Indian journalist. "Allied Avar e.flort will rise in it's crescendo next summer and American support will begin to tell decisively. "A combination of blockade and heavier air offensives through. 1941 Will steadily exhaust German resources and sap the morale which has been keyed up to such a pitch for so long," Dr. Benes went on. "France and the other occupied countries will increasingly resist. The rot will definitely set in, and by the spring of 1942 wa may expect a collapse." Re-afllrming his faith in democracy, Dr. Benes said: "More than ever before I am convinced of the necessity of democracy for all proand certain of its final victory. This Avar more than others has proA'Cd that democracy is the l key to all the precious values of life. It Avas for this reason, too, that the assault of Nazism Avas* directed first against the democratic idea because it would be only across the body of democracy that Hi tie : could pass to secure his ultimate objects. "It is indeed true that democracy has not yet reached its fullest stature. The economic crises of recent years revealed that iis capacity to resolve, economic problems Avas inadequate. The political crisis AvhieU culminated in the war demonstrated how difficult it is to resolve the problems of authority and leadership in democracies. "Hitler's propaganda was able fo exploit these shortcomings. It is beyond doubt that after the Avar, these deficiencies must be corrected. But, on the whole, I believe with Masarvk that the best cure lot the ills of democracy is 'more democracy and truer democracy.' The Future of Europe. Dr. Benes, remarking that Mitlqr's New Order Avas merely a stunt to conceal his world conquest idea said: "An organised Europe can be based only on the democratic equality of lands and peoples and Avhich is equally important—the democratic equality of people within each national Avhole. "For these reasons, I say that Hie purely military defeat of Hitler and Mussolini Avill not suffice for complete victory In this Avar. Tni Germany and Italy must be crcated the conditions Avhich would effectively prevent that rulership by personalities-, parties or castles on which the power of dictators is built. And the German and Italian people must be made to realise that they have been defeated by moral as well as military superiority." Czech Resistance. Speaking about the position in CzeehosloAakia, to-day, and her eon-

tribution to the common cause, Dr. Belies said that lie had not the 1 slightest doubt that the Czechoslovak people Avould hold out to the end in their resistance to Germai? oppression despite all thie tortures they suffer. "Our reports from home, " lie s«id '"confirm our faith. 1. am more than satisfied with the- moral endurance of our people in their terrible ordeals. lam proud: of them, and ask nothing more than. tliaL we, their spokesmen abroad, should prove ourselves worthy of their heroism. "Czechoslovak resistance at home is one vital l contribution which Czechoslovakia makes to the struggle. It is worth no less than four million German soldiers, policemen and officials who would; otherwise. have taken part in the war on other fronts. "Passive resistance is going on all tho time against German Avar industry and against work of every character which helps Germany's military cinds. Frequent executions for east of passive resistance prove how acutely the Germans feci our indirect aid to the Allies. As to direct support, we have a small but good army which, after the collapse of France;, transferred its activity to Great Britain and; the Middle East. "Our airmen have taken part very successfully in the war first. ?.n France and since in Great Britain. The status of our army was determined by the; reccnt agreement' between, Britain and the Czeehoslovakian Provisional Government which guarantees independence to our army within the framework of the Allied organisation." ABOVE ESTIMATE EMPIRE AIR FIGHTERS MEX TRAINED IX BRITAIN The number of pilot officers and sergeants trained under Britain's Empire Air Training Scheme is now over one-third more than the total originally aimed at. The first contingents of them have been posted for active service in tile United Kingdom from the Empire Training Schools which have been set up in Canada, Australia, Xew Zealand, South Africa and Southern Rhodesia When the scheme, which has just completed its first twelve months' work, is in full operation, Canada, Australia and Xew Zealand arc expected to produce from their own resources alone, no fewer than 20,000 pilots and .'SO, 000 air crews e:;eh year, all fully trained, to meet the enemy. Canada is r in addition, our "finishing school" for airmen from the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, Potential air crews come from their recruiting centre.' to manning depots and arc then drafted to the Initial Training Schools. From there each branch takes its appropriate course of instruction and all ot them go on to the. bombing and gunnery sehools. After a further four weeks at air navigation schools for the observers nil the men go overseas, for six months' practical traininti. The fact tlmt the lirst contingents of them are already bringing down the Luftwaffe is its own testimony.