FIRST YEAR OF WAR

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21208, 3 September 1940, Page 5

FIRST YEAR OF WAR

CAMPAIGN AGAINST NAZISM SECOND YEAR FACED WITH CONFIDENCE BRITISH DETERMINATION STRENGTH OF NATION (Official Wireless) (Received Sept. 3, 11 am.) RUGBY, September 2 At eleven o’clock on Tuesday morning Britain enters upon the second year of the war, in which, as a united nation, she took up arms to defend those principles of international conduct upon which the peace, prosperity and happiness of all peoples depend, and to which the whole ideology of Nazism stands opposed. The first year of war has brought many disappointments from a military standpoint, but far from being disheartened or dismayed the British people start the second year of hostilities with confidence, confirmed in their determination, and even more set in them than twelve months ago. Within a week of the outbreak of hostilities the War Cabinet made its famous decision to “base its policy on the assumption that the war will last three years or more.” That declaration has been justified again and again by events. The knowledge that it was based on a fundamentally and essentially true appraisal of the factors underlying the strength of the British Commonwealth and the weakness of Nazi Germany has won for it the approval of the whole people, and thought of it has brought renewed faith at every crisis. It found its last echo a fortnight ago in the speech by Mr Winston Churchill at the adjournment of the House of Commons: “Our offensive springs are being slowly compressed and we must resolutely and methodically prepare ourselves for the campaigns of 1941 and 1942,” campaigns which, as he later remarked, to be by no means exclusively defensive. The confidence of the British at the start of another year is not the result merely of obstinate complacency, but arises from the reasoned conviction that Hitler’s blitzkrieg technique was always one confined to the war on land and in the air and that the established British sea-power and potential British air-power confronted him with difficulties which could not be overcome by lightning strokes.

Supremacy of Royal Navy The unchallenged supremacy of the Royal Navy and the qualitative superiority of the Royal Air Force which is now being demonstrated hourly by day over Britain and each night as far afield as Berlin, Munich, Milan and Turin, while British industrial power carries it each week nearer to quantitative equality, give to every British man and woman an assurance of final victory. The Nazis have exhausted the advantage which careful and concentrated preparation for aggression gave to Germany’s military forces. They are now faced with the irresistible growing strength which Britain has summoned for their overthrow and behind which stands not only the faith of the British nation but the hopes of the oppressed peoples and the goodwill of the freedom-loving countries of the new world. The British Navy in the first year of the war has been faced with, and has in each case mastered, three distinct forms of attack from the enemy. For days before the outbreak German U-boats had been posted all over the world on the most frequented trade routes. Thus during the first weeks British merchant vessels, still scattered as they were in ways of peace, were highly vulnerable to German submarine attack. Failure of U-boats But with the introduction of the convoy system and as a result of the vigorous action taken by the British Navy—in the first twenty days of the war over 100 attacks were made on U-boats—the German U-boat campaign was clearly seen to be failing to achieve its objective of crippling Britain’s overseas trade. The realisation of this failure by the German authorities was manifested in two ways, ruthless warfare against neutral merchant shipping and violent propaganda and threats directed toward compelling neutral shipping to eschew the safety of British convoys. Then, just after the middle of November, Germany began to employ her so-called secret weapon—the magnetic mine. Again Germany met with some initial success, but the combination of great skill and gallantry brought the secrets of the magnetic mine to light and the provision of the necessary countermeasures was a mere matter of time. Soon Germany’s mining campaign was relegated to the ranks of many costly nuisances which could have little bearing on the outcome of the war. Shocked the Whole World Finally came the air attacks on f shipping —attacks which included light ships among their targets and manifested other forms of ruthlessness which shocked the whole world. But the gunners of merchant ships and of convoy escorts became more and more proficient, and they inflicted many losses on the enemy, and like the U-boat campaign and the mining campaign the air attack was proving indecisive and expensive. The well-established principle in war, that sea control can only be attained and exercised on the sea, has been once more proved v-xid by events in the pest year. The Norwegian campaign alone virtually deprived Germany of the chance of seriously challenging the British Navy with her own sea forces, for in that campaign a substantial part of the German Navy was destroyed. Eleven German destroyers met their end at Narvik, and two others were probably lost elsewhere. Three f cruisers were sunk, the battlecruiser Scharnhorst and the pocket r battleship Admiral Scheer received 1 serious damage, and losses were also inflicted on her U-boat and other craft.

Battle of River Plate The most outstanding naval event of the first year was the historic action of the River Plate, in which the greatest traditions of the Royal Navy were vindicated in the gallant attack upon the pccket battleship Admiral Graf Spee, which was chased into Montevideo and scuttled herself to avoid further action with the British forces.