BRITAIN ON GUARD

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 March 1941, Page 5

BRITAIN ON GUARD

AGAINST POSSIBILITY OF INVASION ADVICE TO THE PEOPLE. TRUST IN ORDINARY FOLK. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, March 18. Broadcasting on. the subject of invasion, with special reference to Hie leaflet of advice about to be issued to the population, Mr Herbert Morrison said there could be no real Nazi victory unless it was won in or around Britain.

Hitler waged war largely against the civil population, and sought to get civilians, even children, into the front line of battle.

That, said Mr. Morrison, was the meaning of the Nazi air raids and the main purpose of submarine attack, and, when Hitler and his Nazis endeavoured to invade Britain, they would try to turn the civilian population into unwilling but effective enemies of their own armies and use every device to create panic and confusion. The Nazis would seek victory by disorganising and smashing the complex machinery of civilian life and work which sustains the war effort. Turning to the leaflet Mr. Morrison asked that all should study it as the best possible advice which the Government could give relating to the great event which might at any time affect the lives of the people and the future of the country. The leaflet, he continued, was not called “How to look after your wife, your family or yourself in an invasion,” but “Beating the Invader.” “IF THE GERMANS LAND.” “If the Germans land here,” he said, “the only thing that matters is to beat them before they can do serious harm, and it lies with you, the civil populations, whether to help them or to make their task impossible.” After reminding his listeners that millions of British people had faced, without flinching, the worst hours of air raids, he said: “You are ready for what is to come. lam giving away no secrets. If I tell you that your Government, and your military chiefs, have made their plans for the defence of Britain on a basis of complete confidence, then you will not let them down.” Mr. Morrison stressed the importance of continuing national production by carrying on ordinary life till the end unless military action made it impossible to do so, and concluded: “After our victory has been won, when tyranny has been laid in ruins, there will be sung the praises of our Navy of the seas, our Army, our R.A.F., and our civil defence forces. But there will be praise—high praise—for Mr. and Mrs. John Citizen. Praise for the ordinary folk. Let us be worthy of it —each of us. Stand firm, carry on, beat the invader.” MATTER OF HOURS NAZI INVASION ATTEMPT ACCORDING TO JAPANESE ATTACHE. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) TOKIO, March 19. The “Domei’s” Shimonoseki correspondent quotes Major-General Kiyofuku Okamoto, military attache to the Japanese Embassy in Berlin, who has returned, saying: “It is expected that German landing operations in Britain are now only a matter of hours distant.”