NOTHING DISCLOSED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 June 1943, Page 4

NOTHING DISCLOSED

OF ALLIED INVASION PLANS BUT ANTICIPATION TENSE. OBSERVATIONS BY LORD HANKEY. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.0 a.m.) RUGBY, June 13. A month has passed since Tunisia was cleared and tense anticipation’of its long-ex-pected Allied descent on the Continent is mounting towards a climax as the combined staffs complete their final preparations in close secrecy. Many indications of approaching operations can be noted, such as the prolonged softening by bombers of certain areas, movements ol troops and shipping and preparations in ports. It is pointed out, however, by Lord Hankey, in the “Sunday Times” that the softening is spread widely and that no one can be sure the bombing of some districts may not be an experiment in using air forces as a main weapon of surprise. A landing might even come at an unbombed section of the coast. Movements of ships and troops are not conclusive. They have sometimes been used as a ruse de guerre, since amphibious warfare lends itself to this strategy owing to the mobility of ships. Lord Hankey, who was Secretary to the Committee _ of Imperial Defence in the last war, gives a reminder that the Allies have to overcome formidable obstacles to a first landing—particularly in the provision of air cover. The degree of difficulty would depend on the place of landing and the success of the preliminary softening by air. Almost harder tasks are the rapid provision and repair of aerodromes, the disembarkation of material of all kinds, the creation of great depots of munitions, supplies and repair facilities, the restoration of communications, port facilities and so forth; in a word, the rapid establishment of a spacious bridgehead from which to start an arduous campaign. Invaluable lessons have been learned in North Africa about the co-operation of the three services of the several nations,” Lord Hankey adds and: “A superb international force, wellequipped, well supplied and with confidence in its leaders, elated by victory and in the highest state of morale, has been built up on the southern shores of the Mediterranean. It should provide a splendid nucleus for the larger forces required for more formidable tasks.”