NAZIS STILL READY

Southland Times, Issue 24235, 19 September 1940, Page 7

NAZIS STILL READY

PLAN TO INVADE BRITAIN

MK CHURCHILL CALLS FOR VIGILANCE ENEMY SUFFERS SERIOUS INJURY (British Official Wireless) RUGBY, September 17. The Prime Minister (Mr Winston Churchill) in a brief statement in the House of Commons said: “The development of German barges and ships in preparation for the invasion of Great Britain and Ireland continues steadily and we must expect Hitler to

make an attempt at what he judges the best opportunity. 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 that it imposes a heavy strain on all concerned. But we must not under-rate the damage inflicted upon the enemy by the heavy and prolonged nightly bombing upon his concentrations of shipping and upon all 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, sea and, above all, in the air. Sunday’s action was the most brilliant and fruitful of any fought upon a large scale by fighters of the Royal Air Force up to the present. The figures have already been made public. To the best of my belief—and I made searching inquiries and several crosschecks—they are not in any way exaggerated. Neither side has yet employed more than a portion of its forces, but there 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 a prolonged air battle with sober, but increasing confidence.

“The German attacks upon the civil population have been . concentrated mainly upon London in the hopes of terrorizing its citizens into submission or of throwing them into confusion and also in the silly idea that they will put pressure upon the Government to make peace.” 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 the air bombardment. PEOPLE UNITED “The deliberate and repeated attacks upon Buckingham Palace and upon the persons of our beloved King and Queen were also intended, apart from their general barbarity, to have an unsettling

effect upon public opinion,” he continued. “They have, of course, the opposite effect. They have united the King and Queen to their people by the new and sacred bonds of common danger, and they steel all hearts to a stern and unrelenting prosecution of the war with so foul a foe.”

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,” he said. “Two British platoons which have been holding Solium have been

withdrawn. Sharp fighting is taking place upon the desert flanks between armoured vehicles, but the enemy is sfill some distance from our position of resistance. We must see what hardens.”

Discussing the results of the enemy’s bombing raids and the efficacy of Britain’s Air Raid Precautions organization, Mr Churchill said: “Many hospitals, churches and public monuments have been damaged, but injury, to our war-making capacity has been surprisingly small. We are 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. INDISCRIMINATE ATTACKS “To show how indiscriminate and wanton is the enemy’s attack one has only to compare the figures of civilian and military casualties in the first fortnight of September. There were 10,000 civilian casualties from air attack, but only some 250 casualties occurred in all the fighting forces.”

Some idea of the difficulties of

the task of preserving the health

and well-being of the enormous population of Greater London, which exceeds 8,000,000, was given by the Prime Minister. 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.”

The Air Raid Precautions organization in all its branches, said Mr Churchill, had proved its efficiency and the greatest discipline and devotion had been shown by all. He said that he 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’ on the) look out—men who will give the alarm when immediate danger is expected at any point. “Upon this basis everyone must endeavour to carry on his work and see that output and public services do not suffer, or suffer only minimum interruption.” The House then went into secret session to digpuss matters connected with the various 'arrangements under the air attack.

The Speaker of the House of Commons (Captain E. A. Fitzßoy) later issued the following report: “The House went into secret Session and a discussion took place on future sittings of the House. It was decided to meet at regular intervals, but that dates and times should not be specified.”