SHORT WAR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 December 1939, Page 5

SHORT WAR

NEEDED BY GERMANY WHATEVER SHE MAY SAY. DECLARATION BY LORD CHATFIELD. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, December 21. ‘“Whatever she may say, Germany needs a short war and so she hopes to break the British Navy’s grip on her supplies and defeat, ns rapidly where we indeed are most vulnerable, yet where we are strongest, namely, on Ihe sea.” said Hie Minister for Co-ordination of Defence, Lord Chatfield, in a broadcast speech. Lord Chatfield referred in this connection to Germany’s illegal use of submarine and mine. Now Britain had broken the back of the submarine campaign, Germany was resorting to the use of a new type of mine not laid according to international law and more recently to the machine-gunning and bombing of British fishing vessels. Lord Chatfield said he believed one of the vital chapters in the war was being now written, for “by defeating with out great ally France the enemy's plans to deny the seas to the merchantmen of the world, we are laying the foundations of victory and ensuring that all future military operations will be safely conducted.” In the tribute to the Royal Air Force, Lord Chatfield said that by their successes and endeavours they were building up that experience and confidence in themselves which would steadily give Britain the same ascendancy in the air that she had possessed for centuries at sea. Lord Chatfield concluded with a tribute to the magnificent war efforts of the Dominions and the Empire and to the French Allies.