EARLY ATTACK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 August 1942, Page 3

EARLY ATTACK

ON “HEART AND HEAD" OF ENEMY ANTICIPATED BY SIR E. PAGE. SITUATION NOW BECOMING VERY DIFFERENT. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) SYDNEY, August 16. The Allies should soon be able to attack the “heart and head” of the enemy, said the Australian envoy to Britain and the United States, Sir Earle Page, on his return here.

There was no thought in England or America that the war could be lost, he said. “I always believed it would take about four years for the Allies to get into their stride. But the situation is now becoming very different.

“The increased Allied production is a revelation. Britain is now launching ships within 30 days of the keel being laid, and they are ready for service eight days afterward. We are undoubtedly beating the submarine menace.

“In the western Atlantic the cooperation of the sea and air forces is sweeping the seas of the submarines, and in time this will be true of the eastern Atlantic.”

Britain had already opened the second front by the massed bomber raids on Germany, Sir Earle continued. Ships, planes, and tanks were being destroyed before they could be used against the Russians. The land front would come, but to open one prematurely would invite disaster. “The British people thoroughly understand the position in this theatre,” he said. “When our plight looked desperate they even pulled guns out of their emplacements to send them to us.”

Commenting on the battle in. the Solomons, Sir Earle said that effective action against the Japanese now would be three times as valuable as action next year.

Sir Earle Page has resigned his post of special envoy on account of ill-health.