FIRM CONFIDENCE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 May 1941, Page 5

FIRM CONFIDENCE

DECLARED BY MR CHURCHILL Nearly Half a Million Men in Middle East TREMENDOUS INCREASE IN OUTPUT OF TANKS PROGRESS MADE IN BATTLE OF ATLANTIC IJIXDOX. May 7. • Statements that General Wavell had nearly half a million men under his command in the Middle East and that Britain was making' every month as many heavy tanks as were possessed by the whole of the British Army at the beginning' of last year, were made by Mr Churchill in the war debate in the House of Commons. Mr Churchill said there was no need to fear the tempest. “Let it roar, let it rage,’’ he said. “We shall come through.’’ A vote of confidence in the Government was passed by 447 votes to three. Mr Churchill defended the action of Britain in sending aid to Greece and referring to tank production, said that very soon it would be doubled, without taking into account the output of the United States. The Germans, he said, were now spread from the Arctic to the Aegean and from the Atlantic to the Black Sea, but that was no source of strength to them. They were becoming more universally hated than any race in history. Emphasising the gravity of the issue being fought for in the Mediterranean, the Prime Minister said Britain was determined to fight with all the resources of her Empire and he had every reason to believe that she would be successful. He explained that desert warfare could only be conducted by small numbers of highly equipped troops. The British troops at Benghazi amounted to only one division, which gained the fortress of Tobruk, where they remained still at bay. Referring to the position in Iraq, Mr Churchill said that as long ago as last May the Foreign Office began to ask for troops to be sent to Iraq, but Britain had not then got the troops. Britain, however, had forestalled the Nazi plot in Iraq. In the latest fighting in that country, 26 officers and 408 men had been taken prisoners and the total enemy casualties would be about one thousand. Further operations were in progress. As to the Battle of the Atlantic, said Mr Churchill, Britain was maintaining great progress, though with heavy losses. They still had much to do in building and repairing ships and turning them round promptly in Britain. With the help of the United States, they could probably maintain minimum essential traffic in 1941. In 1942 there must be an immense construction of new ships by the United States and as to 1943, if even they were to endure it as a year of war, it might present less serious problems.