The Gisborne Herald. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED “THE TIMES." THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7. 1939. GETTING TO GRIPS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20036, 7 September 1939, Page 4

The Gisborne Herald. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED “THE TIMES." THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7. 1939. GETTING TO GRIPS

The latest war news from Europe makes it quite plain that the struggle is now being entered upon in deadly earnest in the west as well, as in the cast. Nothing can be more certain than that Britain and France did not decide to go to Poland’s aid a moment too soon. It is also beyond question that Germany had assembled very heavy forces for use against Poland before she attacked her. The fierceness of the German onslaughts in the eastern seat of war makes them reminiscent of those which she launched against unprepared France, in the early days of the World War, before Britain became in a position to afford substantial help on the Western front. No secret can now be made of the fact that Germany’s well-equip-ped eastern armies have gained a considerable footing in sorely-stricken Poland. But the tenacity with which the Poles continue so courageously to resist the invaders in so unequal a contest cannot fail to increase sympathy for them. Seemingly, only a series of smashing blows by Britain and France from the west could bring about the loosening of Germany’s grip upon Poland and force her to turn her attention to the defence of her own territory. Happily, confirmation is available of earlier reports that the French armies are now in contact with the German armies on the •Western Front which, owing to Belgium remaining neutral, is, incidentally, much shorter than it was on the occasion of the World War. Let it be hoped that the extensive offensive which France is working up will proceed without any very serious check. Germany had not any experience, during the 1914-13 conflict, of having her own territory invaded. If France can, however, at this early stage of the renewed life and death tussle break through the German lines over a wide area, it is certain that consternation will, at once, be occasioned in Berlin. It will be noted, also, that Britain is now engaged upon a difficult task of ridding the seas of German U-boats. As in the World War, Germany, apparently, intends to make war on the sea mainly with the aid of submarines. Whether any of her warships are also absent from their home ports remains to be seen. It may be recalled that, in the early stages of the World War, the German Pacific fleet did appreciable mischief before it was accounted for by a British squadron (under the late Admiral Sturdec) which surprised it soon after it had moved out of the Pacific into the South Atlantic. Nothing, also, is yet known as to whether Germany has sent, out any raiders similar to the Erndon, which sank so much British and other Allied mercantile shipping before she was found and destroyed by If.M.A.S. Sydney off Cocos Island. It was, unquestionably, the Germans’ U-boats that gave the Royal Navy most occasion for concern during the World War. Beaten on the surface, the German Navy look to war from beneath the sea, and so confident was the ex-Kaiser that a campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare—a “sink-at-sight” policy—could not be coped with that he definitely promised his people that Britain would be beaten by July, 1917. When her losses of ' mercantile shipping became almost

unbearable, however, Britain wisely adopted the convoy system. Such a step, if it had been taken earlier, would have prevented her food supplies from being reduced, for a time, to what amounted to a precarious state. But, within twelve months, British doggedness in dealing with this one of her greatest problems during the conflict proved so effective that the U-boat campaign was virtually abandoned as hopeless. In the World War as many as 205 German submarines were sunk, nine-tenths of them by vessels of the Royal Navy. On this occasion, they will be hunted down just as assiduously and just as relentlessly. What is also becoming evident is that both sides have now decided to make air reconnaissances and bombing raids a very regular feature of their operations. Hardly a day is now likely to pass without the receipt of reports of aerial activity in one quarter or another. Already, the position in that regard is proving very different from that which obtained under that heading during the World War. At the outset of that dreadful struggle, Germany relied mainly on her Zeppelins in the war in the air, and she frequently made Britain a target for her aerial attentions. What a formidable weapon airships were in those days may be judged from the fact that, in one attack on London on September 8, 1915, not only were the casualties heavy, but damage to the extent of £1,500,000 was done. Yet British ingenuity rose to the emergency and, with the aid of the Pomeroy bullet, so many Zeppelins were destroyed that Germany became more and more chary of exposing her major aircraft to risk. There were, in all, 51 Zeppelin raids on England between January 19, 1915, and April 12, 1918. As regards aeroplane raids, these numbered 57 and were carried out in the period from December 24, 1914, to June 17, 1918. As a result of all these raids, the number of non-combatants that were killed or injured in England reached the appalling total of 5611, and included the deaths of 295 children. On their part, the Allies, in the World War, restricted their aerial warfare to purely military objectives, and their range of operations was but slight compared with what it will be during the present struggle, when Germany can take it for granted that every effort will be made by Britain and France to improve on Herr Hitler’s slogan—“A bomb for a bomb."