UNSPARING EFFORT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 August 1942, Page 2

UNSPARING EFFORT

CALLED FOR BY BRITISH AIR MINISTER GERMAN ATTEMPT TO FORCE DECISION. BEFORE ALLIES CAN DEVELOP FULL STRENGTH. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, August 22. The Germans, who were at Ihe summit of their power on land and sea and with their air fleets only slightly weakened, were trying to force a decision before the democracies could develop their full strength, said the Secretary for Air, Sir Archibald Sinclair, in a speech at Swansea today. In spite of the blows and the bloody losses which the Russians had succeeded in inflicting, the German Army, he added, remained the most formidable military force the world had ever seen, and it had already seized great wheat-producing areas and great centres of production. The Japanese had suffered heavily in recent months at the hands of the? British, Australian, and United States naval and air forces, but they were holding an empire rich in resources, and they were still strong, he continued. Germany and Japan were aiming to join hands through the Indian Ocean and to exchange goods and thus nullify the blockade, and they were conducting a tremendous U-boat campaign against the Allied shipping. Every day every ounce of effort

counted against them, Sir Archibald said, and. he appealed to all to listen to the cry of the oppressed in the occupied countries and strive for victory. Every effort was dominated by the sense of urgency, and that was why Mr Churchill had flown the thousands of miles to meet President Roosevelt and M. Stalin. Messrs Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin were friends, and they typified the friendship of the three great countries in the war and in the future peace. They were summoning all to action, and they must not be let down. Stressing the co-operation that had been built up between the services, Sir Archibald referred to the Dieppe raid as an example of how the Navy, Army and Royal Air Force could work together in an offensive against the enemy, and he also discussed the defence of Malta and the co-operation of the services in the Libyan campaign. The services were working in a true brotherhood-of-arms. and neither politicians nor anyone else should fall below their standard. “At home the Army Co-operation Command is preparing to give to our Army when it returns to the Contin-

ent,. as return it will, the same close co-operation as the R.A.F. has given the Army in Africa. Numerous squadrons in the other commands, too, are being practised in close co-operation with the Army.” The Minister added that the Bomber and Coastal Commands were growing in strength, and the attacks on U-boats were steadily improving. The Bomber Command had struck repeatedly at German ports and industries and had hampered Germany’s war effort with comparatively light losses to Britain. “We intend to press home our attacks on Germany ruthlessly,” Sir Archibald said. “It has taken, and is taking, a long time to build up the strength of the Bomber Command, but the harvest we have sown through all the months of patient and strenuous work is at last beginning to ripen. There is more than one urgent strategic requirement to be considered in deciding the employment of our heavy bombers, but we must not take our eye off pounding German war industry and transport.” The defences of the German cities were strong, he added, but the bombers had been able to overcome the defences. In a few months’ time fourfigure raids would be less infrequent occurrences, and in the meantime the forces that could be sent against* Germany on any normal night could drop a heavier load of bombs than the Germans had ever been able to drop on Britain. The range of attack was also extending and more and more German cities would feel the weight of Allied bombs and the disorganisation and dislocation of German industry and transport would steadily spread. “The Bomber Command is preparing the way,” he concluded, “and the time will assuredly come when the armies of the United Nations will march along it to the end of the war. That is our aim. “Meanwhile, the brutal Nazi power is still unbroken. When the weather breaks in Russia the Germans may bring their bombers back here. Prepare for them. Bring your fighting and civil services to concert pitch. " You will need them, and you will stand as firmly next winter as you stood two years ago. “You will not let the German Air Force distract you from our main, task in the months to come. That task is to gather ail the strength of the United Nations by land, sea and air, and pass to the attack. Thus only can we win a definite victory, and victory is one indispensable foundation to lasting peace, justice and freedom.”