LONG STRUGGLE LIKELY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20050, 23 September 1939, Page 5

LONG STRUGGLE LIKELY

OVER-RUNNING OF POLAND PR OB ABILIT V FORESEEN DIRECT AID IMPOSSIBLE (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (British Official Wireless.) Reed. 11 a.m. RUGBY, Sept. 22. There is still some misconception is certain foreign countries of the underlying principles which govern the conduct of the war by Britain.

Notably, the failure to prevent the over-running of Poland has given rise to comment in some quarters which betrays a complete misunderstanding of the basic British plan. In Western allied countries, even in Poland itself, it had always been anticipated that large areas of Poland would quickly fall to the enemy.

Nowhere was this more frankly recognised than in the Polish High Command, as is shown by the words used by the famous Polish general, who, in bidding farewell to the recent Allied military mission, said: “We shall fight. A large part of our country will be over-run and we shall suffer terribly. But if you come in, we know we shall rise again.”

The geographical situation of Poland, many hundreds of miles from Britain and surrounded by enemy or neutral countries through which the transport of arms was impossible, was the fundamental reason recognised from the outset by the Poles why the war could not be fought on the basis of direct help to Poland. Recognition of this inescapable fact, which lies at the root of the British war effort, is not affected by the overwhelming of Poland earlier than the most optimistic enemy forecasts anticipated. Realistic View Taken Britain’s realistic view of what the war involves was illustrated in the first War Cabinet communique, that Britain’s policy was based on the assumption that the war would last for three years or more. The importance of this preparedness for a long conflict lies in the fact that, as time goes on, Germany will find herself at a disadvantage, whereas the strength of Britain and her Allies will grow from month to month. Britain being prepared for a struggle of this magnitude, it becomes clear that to have squandered efforts on a.vain attempt to give Poland ■direct aid would have been folly.

The Prime Minister, Mr. Neville Chamberlain, in the House of Commons on September 20, said: “There is no sacrifice from which we will shrink. There is no operation the Government will not undertake, provided our responsible advisers, our Allies, and we ourselves are convinced that it will make an appropriate contribution to victory. But what we will not do is to rush into adventures that offer little prospect of success and are calculated to impair our resources and to postpone ultimate victory.”