Evening star., 1940-08-25


raging in the armament over Western
Europe shows no sign Of ceasing, during
the last few days there has been a no
ticeable abatement in its fury.
The German attacks in the Channel
are not as massive in numbers or as
intensive in character as those which
took place up to Saturday last. There
has for the last few days been a dis
tinct slackening in the range and rage
6 the German offensive. 1t is hardly
at.iull but.tj1ere - = definite tactieAt
change to be marked In the ,seals and
nature az HE orer1tidns. .-s 49,
One Is puzzled to md a reason. Have
the strength and effectiveness of the
British resistance and counterattack
surprised German headquarters and
forced them to reconsider their am
bilious strategical plan? The essential
preliminary of success for that plan was
the overwhelming Of our smaller aerial
fleet by exploiting to the full the nu-
merical strength which the Germans
still retain. Have they abandoned hope
of accomplishing their aim? Or are
they about to develop some other part
OF their long -thought-out designs for the
conquest of this island?
There has been a notable drop in
their submarine notwithstanding of
British ships and neutral ships trading
In British waters are down by tens of
thousands of tons, and mass attacks
from the air on conveys have ceased to
be feature of this weeks operations.
Only Preliminary:
What are they up to? Have they
given up the idea of blitzkrieg and are
they coming to the same conclusion as
Mr.. Churchill, that a war of attrition
will substitute for the rush tactics which
they have hitherto pursued in their at
tacks upon all the countries they have
conquered and which they have cer-
tainly attempted in their preliminary
onslaught upon Britain?
Recently new phrase has crept into
their daily broadcasts-their aerial ac-
tivities are referred to in their daily
reports as an armed reconnaissance"
The implication Is that this is not the
real attack-it is only reconnoitering in
force. 1t Is determined probing of
our weaknesses in order to ascertain
where and how they can best make their
great effort to break through.
Whatever 1t is, Britain is awaiting
the blow with an increasing measure of
confidence that it will be repelled. There
is no false sense of complacency. Sir
oJo;r hat
the Germans, despite heavy losses, have
not yet used more than small fraction
of their bombers.
May Be Feint for Italy.
The opinion is expressed by some
competent observers that Germany is
simply engaging our attention whilst
Italy, delivering her stroke in the middle
east and Africa, has been strengthened
by the turn of events. It is no use con-
cealing the fact that despite unfavorable
weather conditions Italy has captured
important strategic positions in British
Africa.
She has driven us out of Somaliland,
not a very fertile province. it is true. but
one which possesses strategical advan-
tages by its situation on approaches from
the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea. Kas-
sala is key position to the Sudan and
Italian troops have effected inroad into
Kenya. They are not threatening the
road to Alexandria and Port Said. 1t is
not necessary to point out the serious
position in which that would place our
fleet in the Mediterranean.
Hitler, by his reiterated threats of in
vasion, may only be helping his allies by
pinning down the British Army and air
force to the confines of Britain.
Those who have consistently taken
this line of forecast never believed in the
talk about invasion-they were convinced
the operation was impracticable as long
as we retained our supremacy at sea, and
were also strong enough in the air to at
tack the German fiotillas and embarrass
their efforts to transport masses Of