CHINA MAIL Winter "Blitz" In The
WINDSOR HOUSE
JAPAN'S DREAMS
Intimations that Ger- many is trying to use Ja- pan as a means of in-
timidating the United States and that Japan is becoming increasingly disposed towards adven- tures to the South have been pointed by plain Bri- tish warning that London is not unaware of what is going on and not likely to be caught unprepared for action to meet it.
1
Balkans
Unlikely
The
Vernon Bartlett writes in the thousands of Abyssinians actively in spreading information and in If France were not to be excluded News Chronicle"
opposing Italian Rule, The ground this connection. thousands of from the list of nations which We have too high an opinion of was prepared with CATE. The pamphlets have been dropped by were organising a "real peace" the Hitler's cunning to be impressed leaders of guerilla or Shifta bands the South African Air Force. French must "associate themselves
cop movements in the Balkans, quest have been crossing the bor- many thousands by the many reports of German operating since the Italian con- There is ample evidence that to-day with the work of collabora- of Abyssinians,tion for the renovation of Europe The greater the number of der at the risk of their lives for who are rapidly becoming better from which the news several months to 'make. contact armed, are preparing for the day sources comes, the more probable it is with the British authorities who of reckoning with Italy. that the Nazis are carrying out a have given them all encourage- manoeuvre in their war of nerves. ment. They have recently been The man who can make his joined by many important and in- complicated arrangements for the fluential Abyssinians, chiefly land- invasion of Norway in such se-
owners and peasants who have "ey is not likely to allow his plans to be shouted from the housetops
ment,
and from the use of the Danube
been dispossessed, and by an in- creasing number of deserters, es- pecially Amharas, from the Italian service. lians are
In many areas the It with a heavily armed escort.
afraid to move unless
The insurgents are particularly successful
of their
Nazi Broadcaster's Warning to Vichy
The New York correspondent of "The Times" cables:---
to which their conquerors have so generously invited them.” broadcaster declared significantly that the "German Army is doing the impossible to-day in order that its presence in France should not produce any friction," and that it was the duty of Frenchmen to say their mea culpa for the sins they have committed and to Dispatches from Vichy indicate promise to "collaborate without Winter weather will inevitably
that there is strong German dis- reticence with the other nations It is a long time since slow down the Greek advance in
satisfaction with the progress of the European Continent." of Franco-German collaboration
Laval, such a plain statement Albania and, in any case, the Bri-
from since Laval was ousted from the arrest was obtained from Marshal
since his release fish have already been enabled by has come from London for Mussolini's blunder to establishi
in attacking convoys Vichy Government and
there is Petain by the intervention of even a possibility that collabora- Abetz, the German Japan's special benefit valuable island fases in the Ae- and one case is quoted in which
Ambassador, 15 lorries were destroyed. They tion is about to collapse. ¡gean Sea.
has become increasingly arrogant, and Mr. Matsuoka's plea, It is therefore
have recently extended their ac- not clear why
Laval's close friend Marce! it is reported, and makes little or tivities to assaults on Italian posts. Dent, Editor of the "L'Oeuvre"no effort to conceal his contempt to America to "think Hitler should attack at this mo-
and on one occasion returned with again in that newspaper berated for Marshal Petain. If he waits until spring he twice" before "taking a would benefit from his great su-
a large herd of cattle, Until re- the "men of Vichy" who he us- The "Daily Telegraph" New
were attempting under leap" might be boomer-periority in mechanised transportcently the main difficulty was the serted
York Correspondent cables:— ancient character
rifles orders from Marshal Petain to anged with a recommen-which is frozen up for winter.
and ammunition. The only means provoke the Germans into violat- As one examines the position of dation that Japan indulge If, in fact, a winter campaign. brought
of remedying this was raids. Theying the Hitler-Petain agreement the United States as a non-belli- is planned, the only obvious ex- their success in the form of Italianed that they had
to Kenya evidence of reached at Montoire, He intimat- gerent ally of Great Britain, it is in some second thoughts. planation of it is that either Hit-officers' uniforms, band equipment organised a scarcity of food
deliberately impossible not to be impressed by the great changes which have ler is growing short of oil or that Japan is an impression- Mussolit is unable
and official documents, to carry
Several that one day the "bad tempers" taken place in American
and its opinion. able and imitative coun- the war without some success with instances are recorded of recent of the people of Paris
which to keep his people quiet.
large-scale encounters. On the suburbs would "burst out and Twelve months ago, asserts the try. Its policies and
road south from Addis Ababa bring about incidents that would magazine "Fortune" in survey Shifta ambushed two companies provoke intervention by actions reflect quickly the
the appearing in its January Issue, of colonial infantry, claiming 80 occupying troops." That would the attitude of the people of the changes on the European
dead (including four Italiaris) and be a fine day for the adversaries United States to the rest of the 60 captured with rifles. An Ita- of collaboration, he declared.
world was one of detached aware- and on the world political As the British victories in Northlian attempt to punish the elusive The German Wireless Station at ness which found expression in stages. After the fall of Africa are consolidated, news of Shifts failed. A whole battalion | Stuttgart has warned the French such remarks as "well they're in
increased activity in France almost everyone in against the Italians comes through were killed.
Abyssinia was lured into a forest where 50 people that even if the Reynauds, the same old jam again over there Daladiers and "other boasters atmay be this time they can get Japan was convinced that Nairobi.
A car was attacked near Javelo the Bellevoie prison" were pun- along without us.” "The Times" Correspondent and three occupants killed, includ-ished "the French people will not Germany would win the there
"As the year ended," says "For- gives these details: ing Carlo Luna, Provincial Com-thereby extinguish before history tune," "the shift in their war with little delay.learned to-day from most reliable missioner for the Maji Mega area. their debt" and that they could had proceeded so far that it ap-
bands sources some details of the growth | Shifta and organisation
developing a not escape their share of respon-peared to have become an irre- of the revoll successful guerilla technique sibility for the war. Nevertheless versible reaction." To-day the against the Italians in Southern which reduces losses to a mini- they were being offered the op-American people stand foursquare Abyssinia. There are
Growing Strength of Abyssinian Rebels
011
are
now many 'mum. They have also been useful 'portunity to "redeem their errors.
New British Giant
There was a wild scramble to get on the Axis band- wagon, ideologically and otherwise. Political par- ties fell over each other in the rush for self-dissolu- tion. Organisations which seemed out of place in a
The King George V, latest and totalitarian state, Rotary probably most powerful of British Clubs, the Salvation battleships, is one of nine new British battleships, the first of Army, a women's suffrage them just commencing to join the association either passed neet. out of existence or were
The King George V, built by Vickers-Armstrongs on the Tyne, reorganised on a strictly was laid down with her sister- national basis.
ship, the Prince of Wales, on Jan. 1, 1937, one day after the ex- The climax of this Axispiration of the treaties Limiting orientation was the sign-naval armaments, which were de- nounced by Japan. She was
So
public
mood
behind Great Britain. They are determined to do everything that lies within their power to help the British people to defeat Hitler. They still hope this will not in- volve fighting, but they are pre- pared to fight if necessary.
So solidly is the nation commit-
their keel is laid perhaps a year 35,000 tons) armed with eight 15-ted to the axiom that Nazism must is required for design and draft-inch guns probably have just been be defeated that it is difficult to ing work, ordering of material, completed, or shortly will be and see how the groups who are op- etc. After they are water-borne | Germany also has the modern posing the policy of aiding Britain about another year is necessary 26,000-ton Scharnhorst and Gnei- can do more than employ delaying for installation of superstructure, senau, armed with nine 11-inch tactics. guns, etc., and final completion.
Ordinarily in time of war this construction period can be reduced
By Hanson W. Baldwin
ing of the tripartite pact launched February 21, 1999, and on September 27. But it had been expected that both somewhat by intensive work and she and the Prince of Wales things have not gone ac-
would be completed early in 1940. cording to Japanese cal- Battleships normally require about culations. England has forty-eight months or longer in the building, but not all of this not collapsed. The United time: is time on the ways; before States has not been frightened into curtailing help for England. One of and provision of fresh result of war lessons and she was the Axis powers, Italy, has capital. taken hard knocks in Al- bania and has been utter- ly defeated in Egypt.
There is the further fact that Japan stands to lose more from a cessation of trade relations.
guns.
Italian Attitude To Badoglio
The "Daily Telegraph". Lisbon Correspondent cables:-
:the
a
Whether this was the reason for
The King George V class have ten 14-inch guns in their main battery, a feature that was con- siderably criticised in England, Badoglio's resignation is less im- since all of the new battleships of portant than the fact that many other powers are armed with Italians believe it to be. His arrangement is novel for British clines as a result of successive larger guns. The main battery prestige increases rather than de-
ships, with the guns emplaced in military reverses. two extraordinarily wide qua-
At least two of the Italian ships are probably in drydock as a re- sult of Britain's Taranto raid, and since Britain's ships are more or less homogeneous units, the Bri- tish superiority in battleship strength is greater than the figures Increasing numbers of Italians imply. Moreover, it is likely to in-are looking to Marshal Badoglio, Crease, since the next three British late Chief of the Italian General battleships will twenty-four-hour shifts, but the
be completed Staff, as the man of the future. the four Axis He is regarded as the one out- King George V, ready to join the Soon, long before down cruise" preparatory to active still far from completion. fleet and probably on a shake-ships now on the ways which are standing leader who is not com- promised, either politically or in a operations was somewhat delayed In quality it is difficult to com- military sense by the reverses in in completion. She was commis- sioned some months ago, but some
pare the new British King George Libya and Albania. V class with the Bismarck and the It is commonly believed in Italy minar changes were probably Italian Littorio, since exant that he warned Mussolini before- made, minor defects remedied,characteristics are not known. hand of the magnitude of the and other alterations made as a Photographs taken in the Chesa Greck undertaking. Il Duce re- peake show a battleship whose plied that the Greeks would offer
and not finally completed, it is be- general hull structure seems of only token resistance lieved, until recently.
typical British design-rugged, campaign would be a walkover. workmanlike. So Japan is back at a The delay in completion was a
Therefore he sent only about crossroads, with its mili- deliberate one. Great Britain did
quarter of the troops Badoglio not primarily require battleship
declared to be necessary. tary and naval expan-reinforcements to her feet. Her sionists lured by
the great need was, and is, for light vessels, particularly destroyers dream of predatory gains and escort and patrol vessels, and in league with the. Axis Puction of merchantmen and to priority was given to the con- and its repressed moder- the repair of damaged vessels. Japan has not enriched ates, among whom may The Prince of Wales probably
By many he is regarded as the itself from its conquests be counted many of its already has been commissioned. It druple turrets, one forward and only man capable of saving Italy one oft, and in one two-gun tur-from the threatening disaster. It as has. Germany, which businessmen and
is likely she will be ready for ret, forward and firing above the is believed he would be ready if of its active service early this year. The quadruple turret. The photographs events called him. has acquired as spoils of more experienced diplo- the Duke of York, Jellicoe and eight to a broadside, arranged in the Foreign Minister shares with three others of the sume class also show sixteen 5.25-inch guns In the eyes of the public, Ciano, war large quantities of oil, mats, with a sprinkling Beatty should be along later this double turrets and useable against his father-in-law Mussolini copper, foodstuffs and even of Admirals and year. Four other battleships of the surface or dir targets.
blame for the Greek fiasco; In- Lion class, to displace somewhat raw materials, besides Generals, concerned over more than 40,000 tons and to be photographs are the large number ters to be the instigator of
Particularly noticeable in the deed he is belleved in many quar- the shipbuilding yards, fac- the prospects of a conflict bably eight or nine of them, were aircraft guns scattered about the While Badoglio is their chief
armed with 18-inch guns, proof small calibre, quick-firing anti-disastrous adventure. tories and mines. There with the British Empire not laid down until 1939 and will ship. One of them appears to be hope the Italians are aware that are valuable mineral and] and America which would not be ready before 1943 or 1944. an octuple barreled Vickers pom- the Nazis may have quite a differ- agricultural resources in immediately almost anni- battleship Royal Oaks, sunk in the one mount instead of four. Others numbers of German officers are The King George V replaces the pom having eight guns on the ent idea of Italy's future, Large Japanese-occupied China; hilate Japan's foreign early days of the war at Scapa of a somewhat more ncvel type now in Rome, ostensibly as techni- but they require for de- trade and throw it on the and the Prince of Wales increase heavy machine-guns, apparently German aircraft are also much in Flow by a German submarine, She seem to be multiple barreled cal advisers of the Italian army. velopment and exploita- insufficient resources of the British battleship fleet to six- twenty barrels on one mount, and evidence and are daily flying low tion two conditions which its own islands plus those one or two of which, how there are four such mounts dis-over Rome.
ever, may be under repair for cernible in the photographs.
Travellers who left Milan a few Japan has not been able sections of the Asiatic damage, probably minor). Britain As to 'planes, it is possible she days ago report, however. that to fulfill: Maintenance of mainland which it has strength with the Axis powers as stacks, launched on
compares in battleship carries two or three between the there was then no sign of German one of the military activity in Northern Italy, order in the hinterland as conquered or may con- follows:
typical British deck catapults, Her All observers bear witness to the well as in the large towns, quer.
Two new German ships of the reported speed. is better than great unpopularity of the war Blemarck class of 37,500 tons (or thirty knots..
among all classes in Italy.
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naw
the