BRITISH TIGHTEN BLOCKADE OF EUROPE. Edward Angly reports in Wednesday’s New York Herald Tribune on Britain’s decision to "tighten the screws immediately on imports and exports of all Europe." A decision announced in the House of Commons Tuesday extends the Empire’s tough contraband controls to unoccupied France, Spain, and Portugal, allowing them to import only supplies "adequate for domestic consumption, but not for reexport." The rules apply to American importers, exporters, and ship owners as well as Europeans – they will have to play by Britain’s rules or risk having their ships seized. "British officials concede that this may not be cricket, but it is war" Mr. Angly writes.
The move might cause Fascist Spain, which the other day was distributing propaganda posters demanding the return of territory in the continental U.S., to formally enter the war on the side of the Axis. The Associated Press quotes a "high neutral diplomatic source" as predicting that Franco will declare war on Britain "within a week or so" if the British are serious about placing a strict blockade on shipping of goods to Spanish ports. And if Spain joins the fight, the strategic British fortress of Gibraltar is probably doomed, which would be a big boost to Hitler and Mussolini. Still, it’s hard to see Britain having any other choice than to do what she's doing now.
SO FAR, THE BATTLE IS A DRAW. In a Wednesday New York Times news analysis, Hanson W. Baldwin finds that the air war in western Europe has intensified, but neither the British nor the Germans have seized any clear advantage as of yet --
"The first phase of the Campaign of Britain, it is now clear, has definitely ended; it gradually merged into the more intensive second phase early in July. The period of regular but relatively small raids by German air power against the insular security and the insular vulnerability of Britain has been succeeded by a period of continuous and unremitting large-scale assaults. Plane for plane, the British are very probably doing the more damage – but the Germans have more planes and Britain is geographically more vulnerable to air attack than is Germany. At an estimated cost in planes lost or shot down since June 18 of 150 to 200 planes for Germany and 100 to 150 for Britain, both sides have created havoc."
Mr. Baldwin also reports that due to regular British bombings, "productivity of German factories in the Ruhr has unquestionably been reduced" and civilian morale lowered. But the unrelenting Nazi attacks by Nazi bombers, submarines, and torpedo boats are presenting serious problems for Britain as well -- a shortage of destroyers and small, fast boats; a "potentially serious" loss of merchant shipping tonnage; and drop in the output and quality of aircraft production, due to air-raid disruptions. The overall result is "still indecisive" and might not approach a crisis for months, says Mr. Baldwin. If Germany seeks a quick decision by invasion or a mammoth air assault, she would have to do so soon, while the British weather still favors such action.
WHY THE MAGINOT LINE FELL. E.D. Norderer of the Chicago Tribune has gotten permission from the Germans to examine some of the Maginot Line forts, and he writes an article in Wednesday’s editions explaining how the vaunted fortresses fell to Nazi attack. The main problem, it appears, is that the French made no allowance for the Line to be flanked --
"The Maginot line forts were not equipped to cope with attacks from the rear. The forts were only 4 feet thick in the rear and at this point were armed with light machine guns. On many forts I saw that turret guns had been swung as far to the rear as possible, but even this left a wide arc that could not be defended. This inflexibility of the Maginot line, which impaired its usefulness in a war of movement such as the Germans waged, was largely responsible for its downfall. Knowing they could not defend themselves from the rear, many French garrisons withdrew from their forts without battle."
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