WARNING BY MR CHURCHILL

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21221, 18 September 1940, Page 7

WARNING BY MR CHURCHILL

HITLER WILL SEIZE HIS OPPORTUNITY BRITAIN MAINTAINING STATE OF VIGILANCE (Official Wireless) (Received Sept. 18, 11 a.m.) RUGBY, Sept. 17 The Prime Minister. Mr Winston Churchill, in a brief statement in the House of Commons, said:— “ The deployment of German barges and ships in preparation for an attempted invasion of Great Britain and Ireland continues steadily, and we must expect Hitler to make an attempt at what he judges the best opportunity. All our preparations must, therefore, be maintained in a state of vigilance. “ The process of waiting, keyed up to concert pitch, day after day, is apt in time to lose the charm of novelty, and there is no doubt that it imposes a heavy strain on all concerned, but we must not underrate the damage inflicted upon the enemy by the heavy and prolonged nightly bombing upon his concentration of shipping and upon all the focal points of his assembly of troops. Undoubtedly serious injury has been done to his ships and barges. “ Meanwhile our strength develops steadily by land and sea, and above all, in the air. Sunday’s action was the most brilliant and fruitful of any fought upon a large scale by fighters of the Royal Air Force up to the present. The figures have already been made public, end to the best of my belief, and I have made searching enquiries and several cross-checks, they are not in any way exaggerated. Neither side has yet employed more than a portion of its forces, but there is good reason for believing at present that very grievous inroads are being made upon the enemy s superiority of numbers and that we may await a decision in the prolonged air battle with sober but increasing confidence. “ The German attacks upon the civil population have been concentrated mainly upon London, in the hopes of terrorising the citizens into submission or throw them into confusion, and also in the silly idea that they will put pressure upon the Government to make peace.” Mr Churchill added that during the first half of September about 2000 civilians, men, women and children, have been killed, and about 8000 wounded by air bombardment. “ The deliberate repeated attacks upon Buckingham Palace and upon the persons of our beloved King and Queen are also intended, apart from their general barbarity, to have an unsettling effect upon public opinion. They have, of course, the opposite effect. They unite the King and Queen to their people by new sacred bonds of common danger,, and they steel all hearts to the stern, unrelenting prosecution of the war with so foul a foe.”

Fighting in East Africa The Prime Minister prefaced his remarks on the progress of the Battle of Britain with a brief reference to the operations in East Africa. “The advance of the Italian Army from Libya is in progress,” he said. “Two British platoons which have been holding Solium have been withdrawn. Fighting is taking place upon the desert flanks between armoured vehicles, but the enemy is still at some distance from our position of resistance. We must see what happens.” Turning to the results of the enemy’s bombing raids and the efficacy of Britain's air raid precautions organisation, Mr Churchill said; “Many hospitals, churches and public monuments have been damaged, but the injury to our war-making capacity has been surprisingly small. “We are only now beginning to get an Increased flow of production from the great programmes started on the outbreak of the war, and it is very agreeable to see that the increases are maintained over so wide a field In spite of the enemy fire. “To show how indiscriminate and wanton is the enemy’s attack one has only to compare the figures of civilian and military casualties in the first fortnight in September. There were 10,000 civilian casualties from the air attacks, but only some 250 of these occurred in all the fighting forces.” Preserving People’s Health Some idea of the difficulties of the task of preserving the health and well-being of the enormous population of Greater London, which exceeded 8,000,000 souls, was given by the Prime Minister. “That heavy and intricate task is being efficiently and successfully discharged,” he said, "and our whole system of life and labour is being rapidly adapted to conditions hitherto unknown to modem society. “The air raid precautions organisation, in all its branches,” said Mr Churchill, “has proved its efficiency and the greatest discipline and devotion have been shown by all.” He said he was unable at the moment to promulgate the new rules about air raid warnings, but, "broadly speaking, our plan must be to use the siren, which it may have been noticed has been cut in half, as an alert and not as an alarm, and to have a system of local and highlytrained ‘Jim Crows’ on the look-out, men who will give the alar m when immediate danger is expected at any point. “Upon this basis everyone must endeavour to carry on his work and see that the output and public services do not suiter, or suffer only minimum interruption.” The House then went into secret session to discuss matters connected with various arrangements under the air attack. Mr Chamberlain Resumes Seat An air raid warning which sounded soon after the House of Commons session began was in operation while Mr Churchill was speaking. Apart from 15 minutes’ suspension

owing to the reported imminence of the raiders the sitting continued uninterruptedly throughout the warning period, which lasted about ninety minutes. During the early session Mr Neville Chamberlain took his seat on the Treasury bench for the first time since his illness, amid cheers from all parts of the House.