GERMAN BLUNDER

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 127, 29 April 1940, Page 6

GERMAN BLUNDER

ROYAL NAVY IN REPLY. LORD GALWAY’S TRIBUTE WELLINGTON, April 29. “I feel sure that in N° r jay Rie Germans have made a b undo that will cost them dear, said the Governor-Genera (Lord Gah\aj) n his address to the men of Second Echelon on Saturday. Vc might heat from the German wireless that tliur detachments have been withdrawn according to plan, but they will leave Narvik and Trondheim according to our plan, not according to theirs. (Applause.) His Excellency sad it was impossible .to tlunl ' ’ what German domination would mean in a country such as thls ' The doors of Parliament House perrnnnontlv closed, government b> tvianny and ruthlessness, the spy, the secret police, concentration camps, the hum, squad—it was a prospect too awful to consider. But that was the fate ol the smaller countries at the hands of the aggressor countries —small countnes which only were too anxious to live in peace and friendship with then neighbours. , , . , The Nazi regime scorned to mm to be rather like the wolf in the tablewhich accused the lamb, which was drinking downstream, ot polluting the water the wolf was drinking. lho German wolf now, with blood dripping from its jaws, sought other prey. \\ ho was to be the next victim ? Sweden, perhaps;" but the Norwegian resistance, had upset the German calculations. Holland and Belgium, we knew, would resist to defend their freedom, their defences were in order and Britain and France would rush to their help. \\ hat of the others? . , , .', Whatever Hitler might do, whichever way he might go, one thing must give him sleepless nights—Britain s rule of the sea. And so long as Britain ruled the sea, Germany would remain short of coal, fuel, food and petrol. The latest adventure in Norway had cost the Germans at least one-third of their fleet, and it made us think once more of the magnificent part our Navy had played and v\ as playing in these critical times. First, we had the example belore us of the magnificent performance of the Navy iii which Now Zealand took a great part in the Battle ol the Biver Plate, and he was glad that Captain Parry was present in the gathering. Then, the action of the destroyers at Narvik I made one proud of the spirit of the Navy.