In the early hours of yesterday morning the war took the most important turn which has occurred since the commencement of hostilities, and there are indications that Herr Hitler is now prepared to throw the whole weight of his forces into an attempt to wrest a swift victory from the Allies. The move hás been long expected, and from now on the world should witness a struggle without parallel in its history. The German scheme so far as Holland is concerned is apparently to seize, by means of troops dropped from the air, important air bases and strategic positions which may be of advantage when the actual invasion of the country begins. Cables to'hand at the time of writing did not indicat hether the Netherlanders had commenced ing those big stretches of their territory which should greatly impede the advance of the German infantry, and their mechanized arms. Much of what may happen in the future may depend upon that. At the same time it is reported that Holland and Belgium have requested Allied aid. It is to be hoped that they have done so, and that the latter will respond with the greatest possible celerity. If the reports which have already come to hand are correct, then Herr Hitler has commenced a plan of campaign which has long been expected, in which he will seek to send his troops through the Lowlands and, entering northern France, endeavour to turn the Maginot Line. As that fortification, however, has now been extended to the coast, it is considered that the Germans will be stopped there if they are not halted a long time before they reach it.
Apart from that particular point, there is also the possibility that Herr Hitler is in search of air bases closer to the British Isles from which he will be able to carry out his intention of bombing them in an attempt to force the British to submit. There is a comforting thing about that aspect of the situation, and that is that the closer German air bases are to Britain the easier will it be for British aeroplanes to deal with them. The long distances which separated Britain from Norway no longer exist in the Lowlands, and it is not unreasonable to suppose that in the very near future there will be a fierce struggle for the mastery of the air. Thus the comparative inaction of the past eight months has ended and a rapid intensification of the war has commenced. That will be welcomed by the Allies, firstly as an indication of the desire of the German Government to force the issue, and, therefore, indicative of the increasing desperation of the German plight, and, secondly, because an opportunity has been given them of coming into closer contact with their enemy.
There can be nothing but regret that two harmless inoffensive nations are thus to be fransfarmed into the cockpit in which this war is to be fought out. On the other hand there can be nothing but the severest condemnation of the ruthlessness and brutality with which the rights of smaller nations are being so wantonly outraged. It is to be expected that the reaction in other countries throughout the world will lead to the strongest condemnation of the criminal manner in which people entitled to live out their lives in peace and quietness are being imperiled by a gang of criminals, who, despite all their loud sounding phrases of merely wanting lebensraum, are embarked upon a campaign of conquest and the reduction of free peoples to complete servitude. To the victims of this latest outrage the assurance must be extended that the Allies will not lay down their arms until they have been liberated, this menace to Europe has been disposed of once and for all, and Germany deprived for ever of the power thus to throw Europe into war on the whim of megalomaniacs imbued with grandiose and insatiable ambitions. This.new development will be met by the Allies with all fortitude, and the determination that, cost what it may, German power shall be broken, and the military machine of Herr Hitler's devising destroyed. Those who may be led to regard this latest development with dismay, should realize that it has always been expected. It was inconceivable, once the war had started, that Herr Hitler would not seek to force an issue through the Lowlands. It will be met with all the determination of which the Allies are capable, and Herr Hitler may find that this attempt to end the war before the passing of June, will, in the ultimate result, lead to his being still engaged ju defending himself when the next winter, which he dreads, becomes due.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.