A SUMMARY OF THE SITUATION

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 190, 8 May 1940, Page 10

A SUMMARY OF THE SITUATION

A cryptic phrase in a comment credited to British officials m Alexandria is that the answer to the question of whether Italy wi enter the war will be clear next week, “as the test has alrea y started.” Whatever that may mean, it is perhaps not altogether short of the mark. Tension of the kind now existing m the Meditcrranean and south-eastern Europe cannot go on indefinite!}. Latest developments in this region are. a flood of German propaganda designed to create general uneasiness, more strained Dilations between Italy and Yugoslavia and an Italian threat in General Balbo’s newspaper that Britain and France will receive a big suiprise if they decide to tfttack in the Mediterranean or nearby. British officials quietly say they are ready to meet Italy on land, sea or in the air if she decrees it must be so. There is a strong suggestion that in his efforts to preserve the peace the Pope has the co-operation of the Italian Royal I'amily. It becomes more obvious that the Germans intend to relieve Narvik if they can. There are reports, some of them not tinly confirmed, of troops pushing northward, aeroplanes flying reinforcements, heavy air bombing and of plans to create airfields nearei Narvik, and to occupy towns further to the north still. . Factors in favour of the Allies are the difficulty of the country through which the Germans will have to pass—no road. runs, as far north as Narvik—the fact that the Allied strength in this region lias been augmented, and that the best-trained and equipped t loops in the Norwegian Army are in the north. Allied troops are reported to be encountering bad weather as they try to close in on the enemy’s fortified positions. There is one Swedish report that German reinforcements have compelled a British withdrawal to the north of Narvik. . . Fuller knowledge of the part the British troops played in south Norway shows that they revealed the finest fighting qualities anc stern endurance in the face of incessant air attack. Ihe praise they gained from the Secretary for War. Mr. Stanley, and General Ironside must have been richly deserved. It is now revealed that one British, one French and one 1 olisli destroyer were sunk by German bombs round the coasts of Norway. One of the most significant items in today’s news is that British unemployment is the lowest since 1920 and little more than hal what it was a year ago. Critics of the Government’s war effort have often pointed to the number of unemployed as a sign that the effort lacked complete thoroughness. Now the slack is being taken up. Another move in the same direction is discernible in the reorganized system of Air Force training, designed to achieve greater efficiency.