The Wilmington morning star., 1940-07-16
Interpreting The War
BY KIRKE L. SIMPSON

BY KIRKE L. SIMPSON
Prime Minister Churchill places
the British national will to fight
first among the weapons of de-
tense mustered in a m of
dreadful expectancy of German
blitzkrieg.
Hitler has not yet been with
stood by a great nation with a will
power the equal of his own" Chur-
chill said in a new worldwide
broadcast of Britain's determina-
ton.
Without that mistaken and I'M
shakable public will to carry on
both in England and in the vast
British empire of which it is the
hub, the other weapons which the
British war captain enumerated,
formidable as they are, would be
insufficient to back his confident
forecast of British survival and I'LL
innate victory. With it, his pic
ture of England enduring air and
sea siege for more than a year,
then turning on her foe in 1912
the harnessed war powers of the
empire well could prove an in
spired vision of what the future
holds.
Must Know Will
Certainly Churchill and his cab
met stand at a point where sheer,
realistic appraisal Of their assets
and liabilities must guide their ac-
lions and decisions. They m u S t
know, not merely guess, at the will
of the English men and women
at home or scattered about the
world to endure to the end.
Of other countries, including
France, which have suecumbed to
the German wal machine, Chur-
chill said that they had ''rotted
from within before they were smit-
ten from without"
How else a you explain what
has happened to France, to the
French army, to the French people,
to the leaders of the French peo-
ple"? he asked.
There can be little doubt that
the next month will bring a test
Of his asserted supreme confidence
in British will to fight for Eng
land foot by foot, city by city,
street by street, house by house,
and beyond that even, sea by sea
around the world.
History will record that the bat
tie of Britain began June ID, 1910,
with collapse of France. There re-
main three months or less of this
year before winter intervenes in
western Europe. Its long nights,
.fogs and frequent storms m u S t
prove an added handicap to Ger
many's principal weapon Of attack,
air power. Britain's navy and the
merchant ships that are E%ngland's
life line use the seas in all wea-
Tiers.
Three months of endurance well
might see England past the crisis.
hat is the meaning Of ChurchiIs
summary of her readiness now,
as she was not a month ago,
to meet whatever is to come. And
it is a very imposing aggregate
of defensive battle strength that
he listed.
Well Garrisoned
England is garrisoned by near
ly half a million more troops to-
day than the armies of the whole
British empire and their trained
reserves represented at the out
set of the war. Exclusive of the
home guard, a million strong,
formed to meet Fifth Column
attack of any nature, she has 1,500,-
900 mobile army forces under arms
by Churchill's count.
She has a thousand ships Of wal
at sea, he said, and the merchant
tonnage under her flag is greater
than when she entered the war,
supplemented by requisitioned
Scandinavian, low country and
French shipping as well as cap
tured German and Italian tonnage.
In the Mediterranean, there is
already being fought a prelimin-
airy to the final reckoning between
air and sea power upon which the
outcome of the war in Europe him
ges. It's progress is obscured by
conflicting accounts from London
and Rome, yet Churchill must have
had reliable information upon
which to base judgment Of the sig
nificance of that action as it af-
fects the larger question of the
fate of England or the British EN-
pire.
It is worth note that Italian claim
of victories over British naval for
ces attribute the results exclusive
ly to aircraft and submarines.
There is no indication that Fas-
cist navy units have attempted to
match British sea power tn
since the first clashes of last week.