LONG WAR PLANS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20046, 19 September 1939, Page 7

LONG WAR PLANS

BRITISH MEASURES PRESSURE OF BLOCKADE NAVAL CONVOY SYSTEM AIR-POWER PRODUCTION GIGANTIC SCALE (British Official Wireless.) Reed. 2.30 p.m. RUGBY, Sept. 17. Preparations for a long war are bein" made methodically b y Bri.ain, and all departments of State are organising their efforts on the basis of a conflict Testing three years or more.

Particular attention is be.ng given in the press to the part that will be played by the invisible pressure ot the British blockade. It is recognised in all informed quarters i .at h>-1914-18 war would have ended much sooner if the interception of goods destined for Germany had been made effective at an earlier date.

“This time,” says the Sunday Times, “Britain is starting where, in the last war, she left off. The new Ministry of Economic Warfare has all the former experience to work upon. It is' helped by the fact that America shared in that experience and cannot bu‘ iicquiese in our doing now what she herself did then. Germany, likewise, Is starting a naval war where she left off last time. Her sinking of the Atbenia was an act identical with thbse by which she outlawed herself iii 1917 and made America a belligerent. Once more she has adopted ruthless submarine warfare. In the openbig days before the convoy system could be adopted, our shipping suffered inevitable losses, but fiorr. now onwards that system » working. More than anything else, it baffled submarines in 1918 and it may be expected to baffle them again.

On the other side, our navy’s resources for discovering and destroying under-water enemies have been much increased by the progress of invention in the interval. The longer the war lasts, the more important oil both sides will the problem of supplies become.”

The Sunday Times, referring to the war in the air, says: “The reply to that menace is air-power and more air-power. We have plans already in working to expand still further bo„h our production of aeroplanes and our training of pilots. This scale is truly elgantic. 'But we cannot rest content while it is possible for us to do more.' Regarding war on the land, me Sunday Times says that Britain is committed now, a? in 1914-18, to mil.*

tary effort in France. Now, as then, it is bound to grow larger from, its small beginnings. Careful organisation of man-power, it adds, is essential to withstand the four-fold strain navy, air force, army and munitions, besides civil defence, and foi this the requisite Acts of Parliament, based on past experience, nave already been passed, “The British public has accepted philosophically the prospect of a long war and has already adapted itself to war-time conditions, which have profoundly altered its social life. The inconveniences of the first week of war have already become commonnluce, and less hardship is now felt at the rigidity of the restrictions which, in some respects, are in the process of cautious relaxation and, in others, are progressively increasing.

“An example of the latter will be experienced when next v/cck the petrol rationing scheme becomes effective. It is offset to a large extent by the restoration on the railways of manv trains which were withdrawn during the days of strain v/hile the four main railway companies tackled the heavy tasks of the evacuation period, the transport of food and the movement of men and material on behalf of the military authorises. One of the principal railways will be able to announce the restoration, with a few exceptions, of normal services and corresponding developments are occurring on other lines.

“In the reception areas social workers are busily at work on the new tasks of looking after the interest of evacuees and, in several oarts of the country, schools in such areas are being re-opened for children on a two-shift basis.