SUPREMELY CONFIDENT

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 249, 18 September 1940, Page 7

SUPREMELY CONFIDENT

BRITAIN AWAITS INVASION

ENEMY ALREADY CRIPPLED

MR CHURCHILL’S CHALLENGE

(United Press Association. —Copyright.—Rec. 11 a.m

(British Official Wireless.)

BUGBY, Sept. 17

“The deployment of German barges and ships in preparation for the invasion of Great Britain and Ireland continues steadily, and we must expect Hitler to make the attempt at what lie judges is the best opportunity,” said the Prime Minister (Mr Churchill) in a statement in the House of Commons to-day. “All our preparations must, therefore, be maintained in a state of vigilance.

“The process of waiting, keyed up to concert pitch day after day, is apt in time to. lose the charm of novelty. There is no doubt it imposes a heavy strain on all concerned, but we must not ixnderrate the damage inflicted upon the enemy by the heavy and prolonged nightly bombing upon his concentration of shipping, and upon all the focal points of his assembly of troops. Undoubtedly serious injury has been done to his ships and barges. Meanwhile our strength develops steadily by land, on sea and above all in the air,” declared the Premier. BRILLIANT ACTION. “ ”

“Sunday’s action ivas the most brilliant and fruitful of any fought upon a large scale by fighters of the R.A.F. up to the present,” continued the Premier. “The figures already have been made public, and to the best of my belief—and I have made searching enquiries and several cross-checks—-they, are not in any way exaggerated.

only now beginning to get an increased flow of production from the great programmes started on the outbreak of war, and it is very agreeable to see that the increases are maintained over so wide a field in spite of enemy fire.

CIVILIAN CASUALTIES

“Neither side has yet employed more than a portion of its forces, hut t'here is good reason for believing at present that very grievous inroads are being made upon the enemy’s superiority of numbers, and that we may await the decision of the prolonged air battle with sober but increasing confidence.

“To show how indiscriminate and wanton is the enemy’s attack, one lias only to compare the figures of civilian and military casualtieo in the first fortnight of September. There were 10.000 civilian casualties from air attack, but only some 250 of these occurred in all the Fighting l'orces. Some idea of the difficulties of the task of preserving the health and wellbeing of the enormous population of Greater London, which exceeded eight million souls, was given by the Premier. That heavy and intricate task was being efficiently and successfully discharged, and “our whole system of life and labour is being rapidly adapted to conditions hitherto unknown to modern society.” WARNING PROCEDURE.

“The German attacks upon the civil population have been concentrated mainly upon London in the hopes of terrorising the citizens into submission or throwing them into confusion, and also in the silly idea that they will put pressure upon the Government to make peace.”

TOIL OF BOMBS

Mr Churchill added that during the first half of September about 2000 civilians —men, women and children—had been killed and about 8000 wounded by ( air bombardment.

The Air Raid Precautions organisation in all its branches, said Mr Churchill, had proved its efficiency, and the greatest discipline and devotion were being shown by all. He said lie was unable at the moment to promulgate new rules about air raid warnings, but “broadly speaking, our plan must be to use the siren (which it may be noticed has been cut in half) as an alert and not as an alarm, and to have a system of local and highly-trained ‘Jim Crows’ or look-out men who will give the alarm when immediate ger is expected at any point. Upon this basis everyone must endeavour to carry on his work and see that the output and the public services do not suffer, or suffer only a minimum interruption.” . The House then went into secret session to discuss matters connected with the various arrangements under air attack.

“The deliberate and repeated attacks upon Buckingham Palace, and upon the persons of our beloved King and Queen are also intended, apart from their general barbarity, to have an unsettling effect upon public opinion. They have, of course, the opposite effect. They unite the King and Queen to their people by new and sacred bonds of common danger, and. they steel all hearts to stern and unrelenting prosecution of the war wit'h so foul a foe,” said Mr Churchill. AFRICAN CAMPAIGN.

The Prime Minister prefaced his remarks on the progress of the Battle for Britain with a brief reference to the operations in East Africa. “The advance of the Italian army from Libya is in progress,” lie said. “The two British platoons which had Been holding Solium have Been withdrawn and sharp fighting i 3 taking place upon the desert flanks between armoured vehicles, but the enemy is still at some distance from our position of resistance. We must see what happens.” EFFICIENT DEFENCE. Turning to the results of the enemy’s bombing raids and the efficacy of Britain's A.B.P. organisation Mr Churchill said: “Many hospital's, churches, and public monuments have been damaged, but the injury to our warmaking capacity has been surprisingly small. We are

SITTING DURING RAID. An air raid warning which sounded soon after the House of Commons session began was in operation while Mr Churchill was speaking. Apart from a fifteen minutes suspension owing to the reported imminence of raiders the sitting continued uninterruptedly throughout the warning period, which lasted about 90 minutes. During the early part of the session Mr Chamberlain took his seat on the Treasury Benches for the first time since his illness amidst cheers from all parts of the House. Mr Churchill had an audience with the King at Buckingham Palace today and afterwards had lunch with His Majesty.