TRANSTASMAN AIR SERVICE

Evening Star, Issue 23383, 28 September 1939, Page 12

TRANSTASMAN AIR SERVICE

INAUGURATION SHORTLY Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright SYDNEY, September 27. It was officially stated to-day that, unless there is a marked deterioration in the Pacific situation, a regular summer schedule will shortly be inaugurated in tho transtasman air mail service.

have constructed a chain of pillboxes along the Meuse, and behind this lino runs'* obliquely the barrier of the Albert Canal. . “ None the less,” says Liddell Hart, “it has to be recognised that this northern flank of Belgium’s defences is relatively more than the southern flank, where invasion came in 191-1. The risk, of course, would only develop as the sequel to a Gorman violation of ‘'Dutch territory, but its potential gravity is such that it is not surprising to find that the Belgians look with an anxious eye on the state of their Dutch neighbours’ defences, which may closely affect the effectiveness of their own.” There is reason for this attitude, he believes, for even a casual traveller notes the comparative scarcity of pillboxes at key points, the type of military material, and the training of the troops, but more pillboxes were being constructed (the book was written in tho ' first half of the year) along the Gorman ffontier to cover reads and bridges, and were being permanently garrisoned. The delaying power of these garrisons was multiplied greatly by the plan to flood parts of the country and to blow up bridges, but while the number and width of the Dutch watcrlines offered a high degree of security against the rapid advance of mechanised forces, it would be unwise, he believed, to over-estimate tho resisting power of the forces that Holland could assemble to meet an invasion in strength. In the northern part of the country it could hardly be expected that more than 1 a brief check could be imposed. For the south of Holland the broad Maas River forms a natural shield, but behind it the Dutch have facilitated the advance of mechanised forces by draining marshes. An invading force which occupied that part of Holland south of the Rhine could dominate the Schelde and Antwerp, threaten Belgium on her least-fortified side, and establish air bases within 100 miles of tbo English coast. HIGH DEGREE OF SECURITY, Summing the up, lie wrote: “ There is good reason to think that Belgium’s capacity to defend her neutrality is mu’cli greater than in 1914, and that the measures taken in recent years have achieved for her a high degree of security against any surprise stroke. Thanks to the existence of numerous waterlines, to the way she lias organised them, and to tho network of demolitions that she has prepared, it should ho possible for her to offer a much stronger resistance than in 1914. It could not, however, be expected that her own forces should suffice to maintain their resistance indefinitely in the face of a prolonged attack on a largo scale, especially if this were extended to her northern frontier. The prospects of the offensive anywhere tend to turn on the ratio of space to density of force. The extent of Belgium’s frontiers gives her a ratio that handicaps defence, though Nature and her own efforts have done much to reduce its adverse balance.”