The Dominion FRIDAY, MAY 3, 1940. A TEST OF PATIENCE AND CONFIDENCE

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 186, 3 May 1940, Page 8

The Dominion FRIDAY, MAY 3, 1940. A TEST OF PATIENCE AND CONFIDENCE

Critical comment by the Leader of the British Liberal Party, Sir Archibald Sinclair, and a section of the Press conveys a suggestion oi dissatisfaction, tinged with a shade of apprehension, with the pi ogress of the military operations in Norway. This attitude does not do justice to the nature of the task and the difficulties of the problems with which the Allies are faced. These no doubt will be referred to y Mr. Chamberlain in his promised statement which, according to a previous announcement, he is making to the House of Commons at the time of writing. The campaign in Norway-is fraught with tremendous difficulties, chief of which is to wrest from the enemy the initiative gained by his forces through the stratagem of treachery adopted to gain a strong footing in the country before serious and effective resistance to the invasion could be organized. This initial handicap has to be overcome by the Allies, as it assuredly will, because in the long run the command of the sea will enable them to transport forces, war material, and supplies in everincreasing strength and quantity, while the enemy’s problems in those respects will become correspondingly difficult But it will take time to accomplish this, and in the meantime, having regard to the present strength of the Allied forces and the fact that their full war organization has yet to be fully established under the stress of active campaigning conditions, a period of suspense is in these circumstances inevitable. The best moral support the .Allied forces under their present trying conditions can be given is the exercise by the public of patience, confidence and fortitude. The thrilling news of the British naval successes at Narvik and in other Norwegian territoiial waters, at the outset of the war in this theatre possibly has led people to imagine that the progress of the Allied forces on land would also be rapid and stimulating. In the circumstances above reviewed this could hardly be the caseC . . Added to these conditions is the difficulty at present of obtaining a complete perspective of the situation, as the bases of the various Allied units are situated at widely separated points. This should be overcome when the organization of the news services now in progress.has been completed. It would be premature, therefore, to base estimates of the position upon reports which can only be regarded as fragmentary, and considering them apart from this relationship to the whole picture. The outstanding established facts of the situation are the crippling blow that has been dealt to the enemy’s freedom of movement at sea, the sharp and comprehensive intensification of the blockade of Germany as the result, and the addition to the Allies’ maritime commerce transport of some five million tons of shipping. Whatever successes (he Germans may have gained, or are likely to gain, under the advantages of their present position—won through treachery and trickery —are offset by this formidable array.