ALLIED UNITY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20099, 20 November 1939, Page 8

ALLIED UNITY

COMMON AIMS ; ALL RESOURCES LESSON OF LAST WAR POLICY FOR ARMIES ECONOMIST EFFORTS I STRENGTH SOON SHOWN | (Flop. Ti l. Copyright —TTiiitoil Press Assn.) (British Official Wireless.) Reed. 1.45 p.m. RUGBY, Nov. 19. The early attainment of complete British and French co-ordination in the sphere of joint war activities receives approving notice in Sunday papers. The Sunday Times comments that co-operation in such matters will help to determine the result of the war no less than the disposition of ships and troops and points out the absurdity resulting from competitive functions in munitions and raw materials.

“Nevertheless,” the editorial continues. “such needs are easier to see than to meet and satisfactory co-

operation machinery could not have been so quickly established but for the experiences of the last war. Working on that the Allies have succeeded, after .two months, in reaching a point which formerly took them about three years to attain. The editorial states that in the last war a greater difficulty was the attainment of unity of military policy, which was not then solved until March of 1918, but now lias existed from the beginning of the war. Preparation was again much advanced as the fruits of experience. Although 200,000 men were recruited in 1914 in two months, the clothing and equipment problem was not solved until much later and the departure of the expeditionary force almost denuded England of troops. Million Under Arms Turning to the present war, the editorial continues: “But this time the first week of war found us with something like 1,000,000 men under arms in this island and the first batch of militiamen, who had been embodied six weeks earlier and were already getting on well with their organisation and training, more than outnumbered the first fivo Kitchener contingents taken together. Since then others have been called up and there has also been a large intake of volunteers.”

i Again on the naval side, economic j warfare did not begin until three | years after the outbreak of the last j war, whereas in the present war Ger- | man cargoes, which in 1914-15 were i allowed to enter Germany, thereby prolonging the struggle, were intcri copied from the beginning by the ! navy working at concert pitch, i “Unity, the editorial concludes, is a ! form of strength and we have done iwell this time to cultivate it early.” I Immense French Action | Tiie Observer, in a commentary on j the importance of the arrangements, takes tlie opportunity of appreciating the immensity of the French action. “The main war actions so far have been at sea and this may have tended to make British people take for granted the magnificent part played ;by the French,” continues the Obj server. “Not sufficiently appreciated ;is the effect on civil life of a mobilised ’army of 5,000,000 men, but the effect |of this magnificent army is apt to be Tost behind the reiterated ‘quiet night’ ]ol the French communiques. When, ; in the last war, the massed German I forces battered at Verdun the whole j French people answered: ’lls no pasjseront pas' and proved it by their : formidable strength in action. “To-day the reiterated French comimuniques about a ‘quiet, night’ prove l them more formidable in truth. In the 10 weeks which have passed the German forces have not launched an attack. The Maginot Line has pre- j seated a ‘quiet deterrent.’ ! “In the air and at sea France has j [shown as great a spirit. Even greater j I is the moral unity which,” concludes | the editorial, “may be summed up in the words used by the President of J France, M. Lebrun, on greeting the new British Ambassador: ‘The two nations have pooled all their sons and all their resources in the conflict which has been forced upon them.’”