Wairarapa Times-Age SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1940. ITALY’S POOR SHOWING.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 September 1940, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1940. ITALY’S POOR SHOWING.

YESTERDAY’S news of a British naval sweep through the Mediterranean, in the course of which the Italian hattie fleet was sent scuttling in gloriously into its harbours of refuge, sets new emphasis on. the poor part Italy has thus far played in the war. No greater contrast could well be imagined than between the talk which has been heard from Mussolini at times, though not very recently, of Italy’s majesty and power and the feeble showing the Italian sea, air and land forces have made since their country entered the war close on three months ago. Apart from claiming a jackal’s portion of the body of France, whom she did not help to overthrow, Italy in that period has accomplished nothing worth mentioning except her occupation of British Somaliland —the conquest at a heavy price in lives of a poor and strategically unimportant territory which was evacuated because the troops who would have been needed to continue its defence could be employed much more profitably elsewhere. Taking account of some important advantages she possessed, and still possesses in a measure, the feebleness of Italy’s war effort is a little astonishing. Iler opportunities for effective offensive action were, of course, broadened enormously by the defeat of France and the demilitarisation, at least temporarily, of the French colonies fronting the Mediterranean. Instead, for example, of having to reckon with enemy forces on the eastern and western frontiers of Libya, Italy found herself free to concentrate undividedly on the attack on Egypt which has not yet been launched. Italy, when she entered the war—“taking the field,” as Mussolini put it, “against the plutocratic and reactionary democracies” —was credited with possessing from 4,000 to 6,000 aeroplanes, a navy totalling 717,000 tons and ranging from large and powerful modern battleships to numerous flotillas of fast and efficient, naval small craft and submarines, and an army of considerable strength, though not of the highest standing and reputation. While she claims a very much larger mobilisable strength, her army is said to number upwards of a million. From the point of view of strategic situation, Italy was and is possessed of very considerable advantages, and the withdrawal of France from the war modified very considerably the weaknesses which were also apparent in that situation. In Europe', for instance, Italy was relieved of the danger of having her principal northern industrial areas bombed intensively by aircraft based on conveniently adjacent aerodromes in France, though it has been demonstrated of late that Italian war factories are by no means out of reach of British bombing attack. Tn Africa, the demilitarisation of French Morocco and Tunisia was of enormous advantage to Italy, and so was the immobilisation of the French forces in Syria, which previously had combined with British forces to constitute the formidable Army of the Middle East. It had been anticipated by the Italians, amongst other things, that, they would be able to cut decisively across British and Allied naval communications in the Mediterranean, in the narrow stretch of sea between Sicily and Tunisia. Much was said by Mussolini’s propagandists about the decisive part that would be played in this enterprise, and in the overwhelming attack that was promised on Malta, by Italy’s air forces and by her naval forces, not least her flotillas of small craft. In nearly three months of war—months in which she had every incentive to profit by the tremendous strain thrown on Britain in the period immediately following on the collapse of France—ltaly lias accomplished none of these things. She has made no serious attack on British Mediterranean communications. In spite of the consistently retiring disposition of her fleet, she has suffered the loss of a fast- modern cruiser and of several destroyers and upwards of a dozen submarines. In air warfare she has been outfought and heavily defeated. An Air Ministry report published on Thursday stated that to August 31, Italy had lost. 131 planes and probably 200 with the destruction of grounded machines, while Britain to the same date had lost 30 planes in the Middle East. The balance was turned further and substantially against Italy in the operations reported yesterday. It has to be- remembered, too, that Italian naval and land bases in the several African theatres have been bombed persistently and effectively by British forces, with no corresponding retaliation. Even Malta, exposed to air attack from Italy at short range, is cheerfully defying the enemy to do his worst. Without being unduly optimistic, and without ignoring factors which may be regarded as still, favouring the enemy, it seems possible in these circumstances to look confidently to the prospect raised by Mr Churchill in his latest speech in the House of Commons in which he stated that heavy fighting must be expected in the Middle East, before long. As matters stand, Britain plainly holds the initiative in the Mediterranean and now that she has been able powerfully to strengthen her naval forces in that sea and her land forces in the Middle East, her grip evidently will not easily be broken. It seems hardly probable that Italy can accomplish much in Syria, but if she were able to gain full control of French Morocco and Tunisia she might recover some of the leeway she has lost. In any ease, however, an Italian attack on Egypt from Libya is subject to hazards which may not willingly be faced. There are some obvious reasons for anticipating rather a development, of the British initiative already forcibly and impressively asserted. GERMAN FORESTS ABLAZE. W ITIT the German blitzkrieg against Britain still far short of serving its intended purpose, there can be no doubt, about the steadily increasing havoc that is being wrought by the Royal Air Force in Germany. This appears not only in the extension of destructive bombing raids to ever more distant, centres of enemy war industry—the successful attack reported yesterday on a synthetic oil plant at Stettin, on the Baltic, is conspicuous in this category—but very notably also in the punishing attacks made on war industrial establishments concealed in forests, and in the incidental firing of the forests themselves. Current reports state that three great tracts of forest—the Black Forest, and woodlands in .Thuringia and on the Hartz Mountains—were again set on fire by R.A.F. bombers. “Hundreds of canisters of incendiary bombs,” it is staled, fell at quarter-mile intervals, starting miles of fires in the dry pine woods.” Apart from the war industries they shelter, the forests themselves are an objective well worth considering. Approximately one-fifth of the total area of Germany is in forest, the greater part of it methodically cropped and providing invaluable supplies for war and other industries. Anticipating what is happening at present and may happen on a much greater scale, the military correspondent of the “Svdney Morning Herald” wrote recently:— Germany uses forest products for many of her “ersatz” industiies producing goods of military value. In autumn, when the leaves are dried, the forests of Central Europe are veritable tin-der-boxes, and the autumn winds would aggravate the effects of incendiary bombs. A tremendous military blow may thus be struck against Germany in setting her forests ablaze, and this process of destruction, terrible as it is, certainly need arouse no compunction when if is used against an enemy who has resorted to the murderous tactics of indiscriminate bombing Germany is now using against Britain—tactics which resulted in 1075 civilians being killed and a greater number seriously injured in the United Kingdom during August—a large proportion in both categories being women and children.