GREATEST VALOUR SHOWN

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 157, 3 June 1940, Page 8

GREATEST VALOUR SHOWN

BEHAVIOUR OF ALLIED FORCES COURAGE AND EFFICIENCY (United Press Association. —By 'Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, May 31. During to-day the droops evacuated in the operations in which the British and French land and naval forces and the R.A.F. have co-operated with such magnificent effort continued to arrive in England. Tired but cheerful, many had passed within a lew hours from the fury of battle. along what is now generally referred to as the “Corunna. Line’ to the quiet of their homeland. On that line the British and French units are side by side, and their presence together is said to' have produced heroic emulation which lifted both armies to heights of the greatest valour.

NAZI BATTLE TECHNIQUE. The British and French naval units are likewise co-operating in the evacuation, the memory of which will live long in military and naval annals. In many cases embarkation has been effected from beaches in small parties, and troops have been transported to a home port in innumerable craft of every size and type. The extremely shallow waters and sluicing tides demand the greatest skill from navigators. The men of the Merchant Navy have played a gallant part in the transport of the evacuated troops. Without the protection 'afforded by the R.A.F., ‘the intensity of the enemy air attack would have rendered these operations well-nigh impossible. Thus the courage and efficiency of all three services have contributed. From the statements of the officers and men returning after a fortnight of continuous fighting with the German forces it is becoming possible to draw certain conclusions regarding the technique of the attack upon which the Germans seem to be staking so much. Witnesses with long experience of campaigning who fought right through the last war attest that the inferno of noise let loose in dive-bombing does—at least until the troops have had some experience of it—produce marked mental stunning. On the other hand, it is a fact that appears to he corroborated from numerous different sources that the actual casualties directly inflicted are surprisingly small. The effect, in fact, depends on the advantage which - the ground forces of the enemy are able to take of the confusion created by the air attack. ENEMY BLEMISHES.

The experience of the stubborn rearguard actions which have been tought in the last few days suggests the possibility that the training of the German troops iri mechanised warfare may have been too specialised. An experienced British officer remarked of the German tank, crews: “Once you get him out of his tank the German soldier of to-day is nothing like the man he was in the last war.”

The stories of the returning sol- | diers demonstrate, moreover, that these German tanks themselves are far from invincible. One British officer knocked out a heavy German tank with an anti-tank rifle—a feat he accomplished, in the words of a well-informed commentator, “by keeping and using his head.” In the defence of Dunkirk, another German tank—though, not a heavy one —was knocked out by a Lewis gun firing at it through the slits. DEFENCE OF BRITAIN. WIDESPREAD ACTIVITIES. EARLY CALL EXPECTED. j LONDON, May 31: . The Minister of Transport (Sir John Reith) announces that the highway authorities have begun removing signposts and direction indicators which might be valuable to the enemy in the event of an invasion. Munition firms and other factories are arming their employees, who are being trained to use rifles and machine-guns in defence of their factories. The London County Council is opening 400 schools on Saturday and Sunday for the registration of children for evacuation from east coast areas. The authorities have set June 11 as the limit for householders to erect steel shelters. Failure involves substantial penalties.. _ The Eastern Civil Defence Commissioner has asked golf .clubs to dig up fairways to prevent the landing. of troop transport ’planes. The Minister of Home Security (Sir John Anderson) announces: “There is every prospect of an early call on the civil defences. The services should be fully manned in readiness. Members of the air raid precautions, auxiliary fire and auxiliary police services should remain at their posts unless specially released by their commanders.” Another speaker was the Minister of Economic Warfare (Dr. H. Dalton) who said: “We in this country are mentally prepared for everything except defeat, a word not known in the vocabulary of England at war. My job is to strangle Hitlers war potentiality. The law to-day must be made to fit our requirements to win. We are determined as never before in history. Anyone who thinks that this epileptic can defeat the forces of civilisation and humanity is wrong. WOMEN’S PART.

Twelve women members of the House of Commons under Miss Megan Lloyd George are organising a campaign to ensure the maximum use or waste materials. ' Mrs Oliver Strachey, of the Council for Women’s Welfare, has pleaded tor n simpler home life to release women for war work. There are 5,500,000 women normally in ( - m Ployment, 5.000,000 in reserve and 10,000,00 u others, half of whom are available for employment. /, . The Welsh miners announce that, 9000 unemployed miners are immediately available for work. Ib e miners are determined to make up the 51,000,000 tons of coal which are imperilled by the invasion of Northern .France. The coal owners have drawn up a plan to reopen pits which will be worked without profit if necessary.