BRITISH AIR OFFENSIVE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 August 1941, Page 6

BRITISH AIR OFFENSIVE

The bombing of Germany had been increased and would increase as the nights lengthened, lie revealed that during July alone 70 attacks were made on German towns and 75 on towns in occupied territory. Mr Attlee continued: “I don’t think there is any doubt, as to the effect these attacks are having on German morale, communications and industry.” In the Middle East. 126 attacks had been made, during which 410 units of the enemy air fleet had been destroyed for certain, for the loss of 235 planes.

“The House will not expect me to give any indications of other steps we have taken to help our ally,” said Mr Attlee, “but it may rest assured that, within the limits of practicability, everything possible will be done. The essential feature of the aid we can give is not that it will be spectacular, but that it will be effective.” BATTLE OF ATLANTIC Reviewing the Battle of the Atlantic, Mr Attlee said an increasing number of U-boats had been operating since the spring, but provision had been made to meet this danger, by providing more anti-submarine craft. Corvettes had been doing valuable escort service and the heavy scale of defence in home waters had turned the enemy further afield, so that the battle was now being fought river an area which stretched far out towards the United States coasts and far south in tropical African seas. He added: “In this battle we have suffered severe losses and'we shall not'be satisfied while these losses continue, but we can look back on the last two months with reasonable satisfaction. I cannot give the House detailed figures without presenting the enemy with information which he would very much like to have, but I can say that our imports have been maintained at a satisfactorj’’ figure in spite of all the enemy’s efforts.”

■ Mr Attlee pointed out that the enemy was unable to broadcast (a single claim for a successful attack by U-boats between July 11 and July 28, but in the last few days the Nazis had made contact with one south-bound Atlantic convoy and claimed to have sunk 140,000 tons of shipping, as well as a corvette and a destroyer. In fact there were no destroyers present, as the convoy was escorted by corvettes, which gave a very good account of themselves, “as the U-boats had reason to know.”

Although he was unable to give exact details of tonnage sunk, Mr Attlee said, he was able to state that the enemy’s claim represented an exaggeration of at least 350 per cent, and probably 700 per cent. The war at sea, Mr Attlee said, had an offensive as well as a defensive side, and enemy shipping was continually being attacked. July was a good month. Apart from attacks on warships and small units, 92 enemy ships, of a tonnage of 459,000 tons, were sunk, damaged or put out of action during the month. SYRIA & AFRICA Mr Attlee, then turned to the naval assistance rendered in the Syrian campaign, where the primary task was to prevent supplies reaching the Vichy forces. In this they had been completely successful. No single British ship was lost in these and other operations against Vichy warships. Turning io the African theatre, Mr Attlee said that only a small pocket of Italians, assisted by bad weather, was still holding out in Abyssinia, but elsewhere in the country the Emperor, Haile Selassie, with his Cabinet Ministers, was beginning to reconstruct his country—the first one to be rescued from the aggressor’s yoke. Officers had been placed at his disposal by his Majesty’s Government and financial assistance was being afforded. “One great factor differentiates our situation from that of last year—the vastly increased scale of assistance from the United States,” Mr Attlee continued. “Not only does this flow cf material exceed anything received from America during the last war, but it is sent to us under the extraordinarily generous terms of the Lease or Lend Act.”

Mr Attlee then spoke of the rising tide of resentment against the Nazis which was appearing in occupied territories, and again urged the necessity for continued effort against the very powerful enemy nations. “Europe looks to us,” he said, “not only to destroy Hitlerism, but to show, by practice as well as by precept, that we offer a true alternative to Hitler’s ‘new order.’ In the British Commonwealth, the policy of which the freedom of every part does not detract from the unity of’ the whole, we demonstrate how it is possible for people diverse in race, religion and language to work together on the basis of a common way of life.”