The Seaforth News, 1942-09-24, Page 6P.ii►G L stiff
Britain's Part in
Three Years of War
13y General Sewell
When, three years ago, war was
declared on Germany, the people of
the British Isles were mier ire illus-
ions about the gravity of the step
which their country hacl taken,
In eighteen months the menace of
Nazidom had grown from a vague
mist in middle Europe to a. defitmte
weir cloud much nearer home and,
by the end of August 1939, the Bri-
tish people felt that everything that
could honorably be done to preserve
peace had been tried and that the
time had come to make a stand, un-
prepared though they knew they
were.
To many the declaration of war
came almost as a relief after the
uneasy period which seemed to hold
nothing certain but crisis after
crisis. Further compromise with a
Germany which was ready to break
any pledge to serve its own interests
was no longer possible and, though
the British have suffered in many
ways in three years of war, they
have no reason to regret their de-
cision,
The step which they took was hon-
orable, and time has proved how
wise it was, for we realize now what
the world would have been if the
British Commonwealth of Nations
had not rallied to oppose Germane
as soon as it became clear that the
Nazis intended to impose their will
on other nations by force,
The British contract with their
French Allies at the start of the war
was, it is believed, a force of thirty
mechanized divisions to be sent ev-
entually to the Continent, While
carrying out that contract the Brit-
ish sent eighteen ,divisions, and the
plan was to work up to the total
when equipment became available.
The Tasks of the Royal Navy
As is inevitable when industry is
changing from peacetime operation
to the needs of total war, the arma-
ment production of the British Isles
and the Dominions started at a slow
rate, and it was not until after the
invasion of Norway that it went into
high gear.
The Royal Navy during the early
months of the war had many duties
to perform in addition to convoying
the British Expeditionary Force to
France. In home waters these com-
prised guarding the shores of the
British Isles, blockading enemy
ports, and watching neutral ship-
ping. In this work they were assist-
ed by the Coastal Command of the
R.A.F. The safeguarding of the At-
lantic shipping lanes from North and
all communications between the Bri-
tish Dominions and England were
duties which further extended to
every corner of the world, the re-
sponsibilities of the British Navy.
The action of three British cruis-
ers—Exeter, Ajax and Achilles,
which disabled the German pocket
battleship Graf Spee, is best known
of the many operations carried out
to clear the seas of German surface
craft.
In April 1940, when eDnmark and
Holland were invaded, the first
enemy move was to seize all import-
ant airdromes and ports by strata-
gem and treachery. Consequently it
was impossible for the British to
land any fully -equipped force with
necessary supporting aircraft andl
so, in spite of the efforts of the
Navy at sea, the Germans kept their
control of the air and the British
foothold in Norway had to be
abandoned.
Britain's darkest hour came in the
late spring of 1940, with the sudden
collapse of Holland, Belgium and
France. In that hour Britain and
her Dominions faced the Fascist
world alone. Winston Churchill, now
Prime. Minister, spoke for the peo-
ple when he said:
"This Was Their Finest Hour"
"Let us, therefore, brace our-
selves to our duty, and so bear our-
selves that, if the British Common-
wealth and Empire last for 1,000
years, men will still say, `this was
their finest hour.' "
History may well place that judg-
ment on the story of Dunkirk and
the Battle of Britain which follow-
ed. The immediate task was to
rescue 360,000 men—the shattered
remnants of the British and French
armies—from the beaches of Dunk-
irk. The next task was to prepare
against invasion.
That summer of 1940 Britons
worked as they had never worked
before. Their factories had to re-
place the vast quantities of weapons
and equipment left on the fields and
beaches of Flanders. Britain had to
be converted into a fortress to repel
invasion. Road signs came down,
pillboxes went up. The cliffs and
beaches became a mass of barbed
wire and gun emplacements, The
British had little time.
In September 1940 Britain stood
alone, faced by 80,000,000 Germans
and 40,000,000 Italians—togethee
thrice the population of the United
THE S $FORTH NWS
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER g4 1942
•
k
HOMES FOR WAR WORKERS
Wartime Housing is taking shape near war production plants all ovetr Canada. Thousands of war workers and their families are seem.
ing new, clean and healthy accommoation. Above are shown four stages in building these units, giving an indication of the speed in con-
struction and the compactness of these dwellings. In the lower photograph are shown two of the 11,000 homes built, under construction, or
contemplated, which are now housing Canada's war workers,
Kingdom.
The Nazis were convinced they
had won the war. The world seemed
at their feet. It was not only Brit-
ain's enemies who believed that the
game was up; a great part of the
civilized world, friendly towards Bri-
tain, believed it too.
At that time Britain had a small
army in Egypt, inadequately equip-
ped. It was built up into a great
army. Men and munitions were sent
from the British Isles, away from
the center of danger, to reinforce
that small army. Throughout the
winter of 1940 and the spring of
1941 that army drove the Italians
from the Sudan and Abyssinia, and
defeated them in Libya.
Side by side with the gallant
Greek army, the British fought the
Germans in Greece. They fought in
Crete. After magnificent resistance,
against overwhelming odds, they
were driven out. They were defeat-
ed in Greece and in Crete, but they
fought on.
Britain, with the help of the
Fighting French, delayed the Ger-
mans sufficiently to defeat their
plans in Syria and so protected Iraq
and Iran before Germany could
move into those countries. More im-
portant still, these events set back
the German attack towards Russia
for several weeks.
When Hitler invaded Russia, all
available equipment was immediate-
ly sent to Britain's new ally. Vast
quantities of supplies of many kinds
were promised and have been dis-
patched, besdeis tanks, aircraft and
munitions of war.
A North-East of Scotland farmer
who received a letter from a Govern-
ment department instructing him to
go an with his ploughing as he had
not ploughed his whole quota, re-
plied that his staff was depleted and
that the lambing season had come
upon him so that ploughing would
have to he suspended for a short
period.
Tie has received a reply instruct-
ing him to postpone the lambing
season for a month,
Picking wild elderberries has been
the occupation of many Housewives
during the past week, and it was dis-
covered that wild raspberries were
ripe again,
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