When a Prime Minister can tell his country that what has happened in Flanders is a "colossal military disaster," it is indicative of two things; first, his readiness to tell the truth, and, second, the realization that the people to whom he can say such a thing are prepared to "take it on the chin." That has happened in Great Britain. Mr. Winston Churchill on Tuesday in his eagerly awaited pronouncement told nothing but the bare truth, hiding nothing and attempting to gloze over nothing. On the other hand the Germans, not content with the battle they have won, are endeavouring to magnify it out of all proportion to the actual facts, and that, it is reasonable to assume, is because sooner or later the country will have to know of the stupendous cost in men and material which this victory has involved. The difference in method is striking, and is apparently already impressing other nations. Particularly is this the case in Italy, where the people assiduously fed with stories of overwhelming German victory and the annihilation of the Allied armies, are suddenly faced with the truth of the situation, and impressed with the frankness with which Mr. Churchill has made the admissions he has. With the Italian Press so completely under governmental control, it is somewhat astonishing that it should have been allowed to print a fair summary of Mr. Churchill's speech, unless the fact is that someone has miscalculated the effect it would have, and permitted it to be published in the hope that it would corroborate the exaggerated claims which had up to then received such prominence in Italy. The effect the speech has produced in other parts of the world is also most gratifying, and it cannot be gain said that Mr. Churchill, by making the speech he has, has done a great deal to enhance the credit of the Allies, and further to have strengthened the belief in the truthfulness of their communiques. In this connection it should be noted that at no time since the German onslaught on the Low Countries did the Allied command ever seek to minimize the seriousness of the position, and it is because of that that the Allies were well fitted to receive the sad news which Mr. Churchill has given to them.
Amongst the many important conclusions which may be drawn from the battle of Flanders and the evacuation of Dunkirk is one which has been emphasized by a military expert in the New York "Times." He asserts with confidence that this withdrawal was accomplished primarily because of the local superiority of the British in the air. It is inconceivable that hundreds of vessels should manceuvre in such a small area, offering the easiest target to enemy bombers, and yet be able to complete an evacuation exceeding anything which has been achieved in modern warfare, unless in fact the Allied air arm had been able to fight off the German aeroplanes. The feat indicates something more than mere local superiority, for quite obviously the Germans could and did throw in the full weight of their air force in the attempt to destroy the Allies and were worsted in the attempt. That the enemy fully realize and their endeavour to magnify the losses inflicted upon the Allied navies and merchantmen can be regarded merely as an attempt to get over the fact that Allied naval and air superiority was such that they were able to extricate hundreds of thousands of men from a situation of unparalleled peril. Mr, Churchill in his speech in the House of Commons makes that point clear, and it is emphasized by the neutral comment which is coming to hand. Of the enormous loss of material which the Allies have suffered he makes equally clear admi sions. He has sought in no way to present the situation otherwise than in that realistic light which he has always adopted in his speeches and his writings. The British Empire and the peoples of the world see in what he has done the finest possible compliment to the moral of the Allies, in his very patent belief that they can stand the truth being told to them, and that instead of disheartening them it will inspire them to further and greater efforts.
Mr. Churchill's peroration is so striking a battle cry that it will bear repetition in these columns We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France; we shall fight on the seas and the oceans: we shall fight with growing confidence and strength in the air; we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be; we shall fight on the beaches; we shall fight on the landing grounds; we shall fight in the streets and in the hills. We shall never surrender and even if—which for a moment I do not believe,—this island, or part of it was subjected and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet will carry on the struggle, until in God's good time, the new world with all its power and might steps forth to the liberation and rescue of the old."
The Allies have met with their first reverse. That was recognized as inevitable immediate ly following the defection of King Leopold, prior to which the enemy's massed forces were making little headway and the original impetus of the onslaught was being slowed down. The Germans have had all the tuck up to the present, and, while it would be highly unwise to seek to belittle what they have achieved, factors which could not have been anticipated gave them every possible advantage. It is to be expected that they will seek to deliver other sudden and heavy blows, but the huge expenditure of men and material which has marked their effort during the past three weeks cannot be continued indefinitel The rapidity with which succeeding strokes are made will be indicative of the imperative need, which the German command realizes, of bringing this war to a speedy end before the inevitable wastage of resources condemns them to the defeat which is confidently expected for them. The Allies have the whole world from which to draw material to repair their heavy losses of equipment. The Germans have not. They have won a battle which gives them nothing but territory, and time, and the blockade are both getting in their deadly work. Apart from this the Allies are inspired with ideals, the very life blood of their peoples, which ensure the manifestation of their determination to emerge victorious from this gigantic struggle, an inspiration which may truly be summed up in the lines Freedom's battle, once begun, Bequeathed by bleeding sire to son, "Though baffled oft, is ever won, During this year there will be many occasions of rejoicing in Portugal and the Portuguese dependencies to mark the eight hundredth anniversary of the foundation of the Kingdom of Portugal and the third centenary of its independence. The historic occasion has already been observed in Shanghai, and it is stated that there are still other ceremonies to take place. In these days when the territorial integrity and sovereignty of so many small nations have been threatened and destroyed, it is impossible not to watch with the greatest sympathy the Portuguese celebrating such important milestones in their history as they are doing this year. Especially will they find cordial sympathy from the British, who remember with pride the fact that Portugal is their oldest ally, and that, during the last war, Portuguese troops assisted' them in their struggle. The centuries of friendship which have existed between the two peoples is striking testimony in this war torn world that it is possible for nations to live in the completest amity, and indeed sets an example which all would do well to seek to follow when this present war shall have been brought to an end. Amongst the various communities which go to make up this cosmopolitan city of Shanghai none is more respected than that of the Portuguese, People with a longer connection with China than most others they fill in Shanghai a role peculiarly their own. Their contribution to the well-being of the port is no inconsiderable one. The cordial relations which have existed between them and the members of other communities resident here, is too well known to need much emphasis here. The Portuguese Coy., of the Volunteer Corps is but one example of how they cooperate in the life of Shanghai. It is a company of which they have every right to be proud, and is a valuable contribution to the defences of the Settlement, in which they have, when occasion demanded it, served with the utmost loyalty and devotion to duty. So while so many other communities are absorbed in other and tragic preoccupations it is still possible to stand aside for a moment and express the hope that Portugal will have many centuries more in which to enjoy her independence and indeed that she will continue so until the end of time. This journal feels that it is voicing the wishes of its readers of other nationalities in extending felicitations to the local Portuguese on the occasion of their national celebrations, What do We Owe Them?
The maxim of Nazi propaganda that if a lie is sufficiently big and sufficiently often repeated, it will be believed, seems likely to suffer the fate of "vaulting ambition which O'erleaps itself and falls upon the other" As already pointed out in this journal, the Allies would have to send several hundred thousand more troops to the German occupied areas of France, Belgium, and Holland to make the claims of captures made by the Germans look anything like reasonable, Unfortunately for Dr, Goebbels, the Allies have no intention of doing this, having a much better use for the hundreds of thousands of men they have ready, as the Nazis will surely learn to their cost before many more days have passed. The latest German claim, carried in an announcement from Berlin, has even more entertainment value than the first. It concerned the Allied air forces, and announced that no fewer than 3,400 Allied planes had been destroyed in three weeks. This would mean that 1,133.3 Allied planes fell victims to the Germans every seven days, This claim has caused considerable: amusement in an otherwise somewhat depressing news budget, Neutrals have received the announcement with grins, Even Japanese expressed polite incredulity, indicating that there must be some bounds kept to the frenzied use of noughts at the end of a figure. Elsewhere today will be found the reasoned analysis of an American expert of the effect of the R.A.F/s fighters during the withdrawal from Dunkirk,: He shows that the British machines are definitely superior to the majority possi d by the Germans The Prime Minister in the house of Commons emphasized the same fact. Everything goes to support the Allied contention that the Nazi air losses have been in a proportion of something like four to one, What does that make Dr. Goebbels' claim look like? The Nazi air losses must be in the neighbourhood of 16,400 planes. Really Dr, Goebbels, for the good of his own cause, should not put such ideas into the heads of his enemies or they might start claiming that such losses have truly been inflicted, In the meantime a chartered accountant is needed to total up the enormous gains the Nazis claim, for it is quite on the cards that, when it is considered that the Allies still have sufficient of an air force to bomb German military objectives and maintain control of the North Sea and Channel, they will be found to be in the red' In which case it would be interesting to know exactly how.many planes we owe them, Another German Plaint Under the heading "Britain waives the rule: obviously one of the heavier-footed Teutonic attempts- at humour, the local enemy news agency publishes a report from Berlin in which the following passage occurs:—
"During the last few months, British submarines and planes in various cases have been proceeding against unarmed merchant ships without applying the prize regulations by the direct employment of armed force. Thus submarines employed by the British Admiralty for stopping German transports to Norway on principal proceeded without warning against German vessels on the high seas, also against pure merchant men—transports or material and Vessels in no wise connected with militar actions."
It is also alleged that the British air force is acting in a similar manner. The complaint domes oddly from people who ever since the outbreak of the war have been flagrantly breaking all international law, sinking without warning Allied and neutral merchant men, and murdering hundreds of people belonging to neutral nations who then had no connection with the war. It is quite possible that the Allied forces along the coast of Norway are sinking German vessels on sight. It would be exceptionally foolish of them if they were not, for it goes without say ing that German vessels transporting troops or material to the Norwegian coast, or, even from are in fact just as much war vessels transports carrying troops across the English Channel, which the enemy would not hesitate to sink without any warning whatever had the opportunity. It may safely be said that all vessels bel to Germany operating in the Skager Rak cels used by the enemy for the purpose of prosecuting war upon Great Britain and her Allies. As such they are not entitled to any consideration under the London Protocol of 1936 which the German propaganda machine so glibly quotes. Of course the whole subject can be summed up as it has already been so often that what is absolutely legal for the Germans to do, is hopelessly illegal if the Allies do it. The picture of "innocent" Germany now alleging crimes by Great Britain at which her own men have been so adept cannot but be regarded with just the same cynicism as that with which the Germans make the charge.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.