WAR’S ALARUMS

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 236, 20 September 1939, Page 4

WAR’S ALARUMS

SHOCK FOR LONDON A G AIN ST EXPECT ATI OX S PRECAUTIONS IN PLACE GISBOKNITE “Though there' wore all sorts of preparations being made, and many of my own friendts were joining and working in auxiliary organisations, no one in London appeared to believe that another war possible. Up to "August 4. when 1 Eft Britain on mv , ’ ■■■ 1 return to Now Zealfuid, the general impression way that the Nazis had lost their chances of striking an effective blow,” said Miss F. Adams, Gisborne, in an interview last week.

Miss Adams, who .returned 10 the Dominion last- week, said that during the past year preparations had been proceeding at high speed! owing to the renewal of the crisis, but all the time people could not believe that the preparations would ever become necessary.

When, last September, the Germans threatened to invade Czechoslovakia, the British people were convinced that war was inevitable.-They realised, too, that if it came then Britain would be caught in an unprepared condition. There was very ...deep concern felt -' throughout the eoiyatrvj,-not merely by the prospect of war, l|ut by the tooling that the country was not in a position to make its weight felt in any conflict for some time. 4 Time for Organisation Credit for the avoidance of the conflict threatened at that time was accorded to Mr. Neville Chamberlain. He hadi saved the country, it was felt, and given timoTor organising the defence,s of Britain. _ The impression was that if Herr Hitler found Britain fully prepared the next time he created a crisis, he would realise how serious was the alternative to a peaceful settlement of his claims. 1 People were encouraged to enter into A.ll-P. work, and, to train for noncombatant auxiliary services if they were not capable of entering the naval, military or air force reserves. Air-' craft was constantly aloft, and on a night two months ago Miss Adams listened to ail exceptional uproar of aero engines over London, and heard next morning that 125 British planes had been passing over to France on a leng-distanc© flight. j . Householders were obliged by the authorities in September last to pro- 1

vide -at least one gas-proof room in their dwellings and flats, people were fitted with gas-masks “and■instructed in anti-gag measures; and . simply-e----rected bomb-proof shelters, designed t-o protect people from flying splinters from .bombs and shells, became standard flyings' in the average London and yards. . • parks of London were t.pf.ii ' and in place of the hastilydug trcliches .of! last year, "new shelters ’were placed underground, covered over with splinter-proof materials, and lit by-electricity. * Underground Shelters Ready In Green Park, one of London’s most- beautiful open spaces, Miss Adams visited! an underground shelter designed to provide refuge for hundreds of people, with seats and other accommodation for the elderly and the very young. Black-out'-.precautions wpfe taken in every part of .the city, and, from time to time rehearsals were field by the hallo on-bxtf rage units. ■ Householders of the districts outside London were canvassed for ncconiinodlation for ’evacuated- children, and each house was allotted its quota of. young people from the metropolis, whether the owner liked it or not. Everything possible to think of in the way of reducing the risk of human and material losses in the event of air raids over London was done. But all the time the people believed that HenHitler would never dare to force war on a prepared Britain. Belonging to a club in which the. membership was largely drawn from alhong the. wives and relatives of service men. Miss Adams found, that the officers of the respective services themselves knew very little, or at leastprofessed to know little, about the prospects of war. They certainly did not alarm their womenfolk with forebodings, if they had any notion that war' might come.

One factor which some people regarded as likely to cause trouble between ’Germany and England was tlie supreme confidence shown by Herr von Ribbentrop. during liis stay in London as Minister of the Nazi Government. It was felt that he scorned the British as a decadent people, and! that if his counsels had great weight with his Fuehrer, the latter plight be brought to share his opinion, and so press on to the point of war. The likelihood was not counted upon seriously by many of- the Londoners among wham Mis." Adams moved, lioucvef. “The British are a peace-loving people, and they have made great sacl dice's for peace in Europe,” Miss Adams asserted. “It is difficult even now to believe that all the preparations .of which I saw a little in London are being put to the real test ol war; but those of us who know the seriousness with which the people there prepared for what they believed! would not happen can have only one opinion as to how they will carry on.”