COURSE OF THE WAR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 October 1939, Page 7

COURSE OF THE WAR

+. BRITISH PRIME MINISTER’S SURVEY TRIBUTE TO NAVY ENEMY’S FANTASTIC CLAIMS. PROOF OF DISAPPOINTMENT. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day. 10.35 a.m.) RUGBY. October 18. Referring' to war events the Prime Minister, in the House of Commons, said that on the Western Front, the British Expeditionary Force had now taken over its allotted sectors of the French line and ’all divisions were in position. The. understanding between the French and British High Commands was complete, as was proved by the fact that the British force is under the French Comma nder-iii-Chief, while on the other hand French troops were serving under the British (toinmander-in-Chief. Mr Chamberlain paid tribute to the unremitting efforts of the Navy in attack and defence and to the memory of officers and men lost, whether at sea, on land or in the air. Successes against U-boats already had been reported to the House by MrWinston Churchill yesterday. A heavy toll had been taken of U-boats since the war began. The failure of this form of attack to interfere with British trade was shown by an estimate that the losses sustained by British shipping entering and leaving United Kingdom ports during the week to October 17 represented only about one-half of 1 per cent of the total number of sailings. Attacks by enemy aircraft on fleet bases, which had begun, were a new feature of the war, but one fully expected. The extent of the enemy’s disappointment at the failure of these attacks to inflict any serious injury might be measured by the fantastic nature of the claims they had felt obliged to invent. Mr Chamberlain added: ‘‘lt is not true and I must repeat once again, though by now the news grows stale through repetition, that the Hood ortho Repulse, or any other capital ship has suffered the least damage.” Ho continued, amid laughter: “The same is true of the Ark Royal. This country is resolute enough to bear bad news and the Government has not hesitated to publish the full extent of losses sustained. The imaginary losses the German broadcasts have described with such unblushing impudence may serve for a time to raise their spirits, but in the end their falsity will be demonstrated and the consequent disappointment will be only the more depressing.”