Evening star., 1940-09-01

And now playing for the biggest stake
of all, the Germans are battering at
Britain with three dimension, total
war by land, sea and blockade.
Except for Poland. which was fin
ished off in month, Hitlers cenquests
have been achieved since the April 8
Invasion of Norway and Denmark.
Up until then, from the time the war
started in Poland September l and the
British entry three days later, the wars
tnaction led some people to call 1t a
"phony."
1t wasn't "phony" long.
The cost in blood to date is matter
for the historians of the future to record.
So far, 236,603 dead have been admit
led officially and reliably estimated. But
this does not include official Polish Nor
wegian, Netherlands, Belgian, French
or British figures.
Three to Five Million Casualties.
From various compilations the total Of
dead, wounded and missing is fixed at
3,30O,00O to $500 00O-according to whose
figures you are reading.
German official reports place the miss
ing in Poland alone at 100000. Red
Cross estimates say 10000 TO 100, 900
Frenchmen were killed and 100000 to
100000 captured.
Winston Churchill, on August 20, an
nounced Britains dead, wounded and
missing civilians-up to then
numbered $4,000, compared with 900
casualties in the first year of the World
War.
But, remember, this war is being fought
under vastly changed conditions, with
the airplane largely playing the part for
merry played by massed troops in land
offensives
OF the British casualties, upward Of
10000 were acknowledged officially in
the historic British retreat from Dun
kirk.
Britain has acknowledged the loss of
s514,199 tons of British, Allied and neu-
trail shipping, compared with the Ger
man claims of having sunk 5,078,038
tons.
Admitted Naval Losses.
Admitted British naval losses include
one battleship, two aircraft carriers, three
cruisers, 80 destroyers, IA submarines and
many converted merchantmen and
smaller craft. Against these 48 units and
some smaller craft, the Germans claim
70 have sunk 26e units.
On the other side of the ledger, the
British assert they have driven Ger
many from the seas with the sinking
and capture of 1,211,5o0 tons of enemy
merchant shipping. Most of this was
German, with some Italian included.
Germany has admitted few of the
losses reported inflicted by the British.
She has acknowledged the loss of one
pocket-battleship, three cruisers, 10 de-
stroyers, six submarines and II other
craft. Italy has admitted the loss of
one cruiser.
The spread in rival reports of planes
bagged Is just as wide. Britain says
$500 German planes have been de-
stroyer, the Germans admit TOO; the
Germans say 5,400 Allied craft have
been destroyed, the British admit 500.
Denmark Didn't Fight.
When Germany sent her gray-green
legions marching northward, Denmark
offered no resistance. Britain and
France went into the war to help Nor
way, who elected to fight, but it finally
gave up the struggle June g. Norways
King Haakon fled to England. His
brother, King Christian of Denmark,
stayed at home.
Then came the invasion of the Low
Countries, Luxembourg, Belgium and the
Netherlands. Tiny Luxembourg had no
opposition to offer; the Netherlands,
whose Queen Wilhelmina had fed to
England, gave up after four days; King
Leopold of Belgium capitulated May %,
and now Is the guest" of the Germans.