AID TO GERMANY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20112, 5 December 1939, Page 3

AID TO GERMANY

SOVIET’S DIFFICULTY TRANSPORT PROBLEMS PETROL BY ZEPPELIN LONDON, Nov. 22. The transport difficulties that Germany is meeting with in obtaining supplies have led to reports that she is seriously considering the use of Zeppelins, now idle in their hangars at Friedrichshafen, to transport Russian grain and other products. It is even suggested that oil tanks may be built into the airships to enable the transportation of petrol from Baikal (Siberia). As Germany has no helium gas, Zeppelins must be inflated with inflammable hydrogen, which, combined with the prospective cargoes, suggests the extreme peak of hazardout undertakings.

General Sir Hubert Gough, addressing the English-Speaking Union, belittled Russia’s help to Germany, and said that Russia was not a good friend to anyone.

“She will allow Germany only supplies adequate to carry on the war sufficiently long to exhaust all her resources, but not long' enough to allow her to win,” he declared. Fie estimated that Germany could carry on for two years, but, owing to a shortage of materials, she cannot afford to wait like the Allies,” he continued. "For the present, she might increase her pressure on the neutrals, but there will not be any major offensive before the spring, when a desperate enterprise is the most likely German plan..

“Germany is certainly suffering discord among her generals, and, for the first time in her history, she has no plan, and is at present depending on the indefinite results of her submarine warfare and aircraft activities.

"The British Admiralty's decision to treble its anti-submarine efforts would be a decisive factor.”