WAR SURVEY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 September 1943, Page 3

WAR SURVEY

MR CHURCHILL OPENS DEBATE IN COMMONS Conffid Entering Decisive Phase GREAT DEVELOPMENTS IN PROSPECT REMARKABLE REDUCTION IN SHIPPING LOSSES LONDON, September 21. Opening’ the war debate in the House of Commons, the Prime Minister, Mr Churchill, said he was confident of a meeting this year between President Roosevelt, Marshal Stalin and himself. In the meantime, an inter-Allied commission was being set up in the Mediterranean to deal with the problems arising out of the Italian armistice. It was hoped at an early date to hold a meeting of the three Foreign Ministers, In the Pacific the offensive against Japan was already promising and would unfold step by step. Mr Churchill made it clear, that the restoration of France as one of the great Powers would be considered in the light of a sacred duty. The past year, he said, had been one of almost unbroken success, from Alamein to Italy and from the Volga almost to the Dnieper. The offensive in Southern Europe he described as the third front. The second front was a potential one. The African operations had never been regarded, Mr Churchill said, as a substitute for others across the Channel. They were essentially a preliminary to the main attack on Germany and her satellites. The Prime Minister repudiated the suggestion that valuable time had been lost in the negotiations ■for an armistice with. Italy. The Italian people would be rescued and given their i-ightful place among the democracies. Referring to the war against Japan, Mr Churchill said the large-scale offensive under General MacArthur gave great promise for the future. Japanese shipping and air losses exceeded their power of replacement. The Japanese were no longer fighting to the last man. As to the air war, Mr Churchill said that in the past 12 months the weight of bombs dropped on Germany had been three times greater than in the preceding 12 months. The systematic destruction of enemy centres of war production was going on at a great pace. U-BOAT FAILURE IN ATLANTIC In the four months up to last Saturday, the Prime Minister stated, no merchant ship had been sunk by enemy action in the North Atlantic. During a late period of two weeks not a single Allied ship had been sunk by enemy action in any part of the world, A new phase of the sea war had begun' and the Allies were taking a steady toll of the enemy. The net gain in shipping tonnage exceeded 6,000,000 tons since the beginning of the year. The bloodiest part of the war was ahead, said Mr Churchill, who added that no sacrifice would be too great as the price of . decisive victory.