WAR
In the Battle of Flanders, there are three criticise areas
A
tonigut, ee sides of the trapped Allied army - south side,
east side, and west side.
If the huge encircled forces of Great Britain, Belgium
and France are to be saved, that salvation will have to come at
the southern curve of the
tmge -Sernisft
pocket th^Germans have closed.
Today Allied troops battled fiercely to drive their way south,
Y\j0LaZ) (cry- vXsijjit'0^
through the encircling^er^^V linej^- and join with the main French
forces on the south side of the pcoket.
nJL.
The day began with the announcement of the French capture
London, however, warned that this success should not be exaggerated.
A spokesman for the War Office declared a counter-attack such as
was made in the Arras-Douai section is only a small part of the
whole picture.' And he added: "We have no reports that a really
big counter-offensive has begun. The situation is very grave,tT
observed the spokesman. And that was the
x
&
kskk
aeynote in London
today — the gravity of the situation in northern France.
Later in the day, came a French military dispatch


V/AR 2
dec-U i ing that the Allies had hurled the Germans back# (
a
«> Ihoy
bought to break--their w**y out of the-southor»--««4“Of the-pockets
Paris described the hugeness and fierceness of the battle in the
area from Arras to Cambrai. The Allies are battling with cannon,
tremendous artillery fire. Shells from guns of all calibre are
raking every road along which the Germans may advance - shrapnel,
high explosive. Paris reports that the Germans are using every
kind of weapon that they have. Flame-throw ing tanks operated
by crews in asbestos uniforms. Th^se tanks are described as
fast and light, and they mount a flame-thrower which projects
like a long gun barrel. They dash up to an objective with a
ead in front of them. The Paris report
tells how these flame-throwing tanks are used against
A' cty
fortifications. They dash up close to a fort and
flame
into the gun aperatures. Just like a fireman playing a stream
of water through the window of a burning building, but in the
Battle of Flanders the iMazis play streams of flame in the
long flame spreading
One French military expert tells of the^probiem ^
inferno of war.




WAR . 3
light, swift armored units of the Germans. He
said
itTs
something
like a giant jackrabbit hunt, as French and British seek
to capture and destroy the endless detachments of havoc on wheels.
>/
They are being destroyed, in large numbers, but that's what the
Germans expect. So says the Paris commentator. He puts it this way:
"These German advance elements," he explains, "are destined to be
destroyed just es were the
ORleiT cavalry patrols who pushed
their way far ahead of the German army in H^neteenFourteen -
pushed almost to Paris.* The modern motorised troops, he
summarizes, are merely successors to those Uhxans.
Such is the picture of modernized battle, which is
raging as the Allies with immense arti^ry
_
. f .f.y.p tra'b'jrThe report is that the German
way southward
out of th
th.t area 1. only thlrty-fl.. «U««
^,<1 censi.ts
aoetly of ..toruea
W *lr
^ ^
masses of infantry dug in and holding the line, but a maze of
s.iftly moving,
0" *h*,1• '
wedge in
Paris says
• e the issue of the southward drive is in
that tonight the is
doubt.




A still later bulletin announces that the |llies have
battled their way to the outskirts of Cambrai, an important
stronghold in the iNazi wedge. Also, the French have driven
to tne outskirts of Amiens. In this case they pushed from the
south, driving northward. Ft may be the beginning of the
expected^counter-offensive to relieve'the armies in the trap,
battering at the encircling line from both sides.
Oh the east side of the pocket - the Germans are driving
a secondary wedge, trying to split the Allied army in ^ trap -
cut it in two. They are battering their way from Belgium, and
today forced crossing of the upper reaches of the River Scheldt.
A
J
London reports that British troops hav» retired somewhat oefore
the impetus of the blow. The Nazi strategy is obvious - seeking
to cut the main pocket into two pockets.
On the eastern side is the English Channel, and there
today the Germans drove as far as the harbor of Boulogne. This
was revealed by Prime Minister Churchill in the House of Commons.
He stated that the Germans hold Abbeville, the point at which they
arrived at the Channel th« day before yesterday, on Tuesday.



WAR - 5
From the Abbeville area motorized columns struck north along
txie Channel
coast.
f,lt is too early,1’ declared the British
Prime Minister, ’ to)say Ahat the result of this coastal fighting
may be. But it evidently carrie o with it implications of a
serious character.” He described it as a German penetration
in the rear of the Allied lines, penetration all the way to
~teM6U
Boulogne. Berlin ctescribe^ it as-a drive against Calais.
Boulogne is only thirty miles from the British coast, and if the
Germans got established there they could^
such
British ports as Dover, Folkstone.and Deal, Boulogne is only
eighteen miles from Calais and if it should remain in German
hands it would quickly make Calais untenable. So said ^ London
spokesman today. Calais is only twenty-two miles from the coast
of England.
Perhaps the most ominous part of the Nazi drive along
the
coast is
this -
Boulogne and
Calais are the
two most important
harbors for the evacuation of thfe British Expeditionary Force, if
3*0
that should be
necessary
It is
clear
how serious
the
loss of
fr^Ttirgnp—aTrd_Ccilsi^ would be, if the Allies snou^-c fail to bie^k
A
-


out o: the trap. The Channel ports would jthen be the only lines
of escape for the B.E.F. As it stands, they»re the only lines
for getting suppljgs to the armies in the pocket - half a million
to a million men. And there»s the dread factor of air power -
~VT
bombers hitting at harbors. How useable are the Channel ports
to the British _right^now? ^spokesman for the London War Office
today declared that those harbors had not been bombed so badly
that they cannot still be used4. But, he added - "they are open
only at certain times." And that was promptly taken to mean -
at night. British transports and supply ships able to use
Channel ports under the cover of darkness, when night hides them
from bombing fleets aloft.
Y/hat do the Nazis think about the Battle of FJa nders?
They say of course t hey’r^ completely.sure that their trap will hold
and that the Allied armies therf will either have to surrender or
/\ *
face complete destruction. But Nazi spokesmen add that they don»t
expect the battle to be over quickly. They say the Allies are
fighting with fierce desperation and that t£ie Battle of Flanders will
rage for another week or ten days.


GERr'AN
A late dispatch begins this way:- Berlin)— Hitler believes
that France may seek a separate peace* This was stated by a spokesman
for the Nazi government. He said that Germans are taking into account
the possibility that France may drop out of the war.
^described Hitler’s war plan under four headings: First,
the capture o?- annihilation of the Allied armies encircled in Flander^.
A
Secondly, the possible Capitulation of France. Third, a whirlwind
attack on Great Britain by air and sea. The fourth, peace, concluded
on Hitler’s own terms.
That’s a nice sort of program for the world to contemplate.
The »€
f
% about France pulli-ig out of the war may well be a propaganda
^
A
suggestion aimed at Paris.


KAISER
The fate of the E^-Kaiser has been discussed a good deal.
Today we have a report on that formerly All Highest, Wilhelm the,
Second. He’s ixtlxKtxhi still at his Dutch estate near Doom,
his place of exile for long years. And German authorities
say
he’s likely to stay there - not return to Germany, as has been
rumored.
There’s one curious story, which comes from a German source.
It relates that the British Government offered the Ex-Kaiser a
place of refuge in England. The story declares that the proposal
wa^made through the British legation at The Hague - the British
willing to move the one-time Emperor and his family to a new home
in England. That reportidoesn have a moody touch, with reminiscence
of the World War days when Britain stigmatized the German war lord
as the arch fiend. Maybe in these times of Hitler and the Nazis,
Kaiser Wilhelm in retrospect seems like a mild and benevolent
personage.''How did the Ex-Kaiser^take t he British offer? The story,
from a Nazi source, states — tnat tne e^ile of Doom replied
that he would go to England only in the sense that his thoughts would
be with the German troops when they invaded Britain.
n0t
such xxx
true1 forelV6rand'ifor6et on the t'art of the old b°y - if the story be



FIFTH COLUliN
There were a series of arrests inLn^iand today
police rounding up a number of persons who might be charged with
possible Fifth Column activities. The most startling of the
arrests was that of
^
Conservative member of Parliament, Captain
Archibald Ramsay. HeTs a World War veteran and a member of the
British aristocracy, educated at Eton and Sandhurst, married to
the Honorable Ismay Lucretia Mary Preston, daughter of the
Fourteenth Viscount Gormanston.
Captain Archibald Rams^r was a member of the
Angl#-German Fellowship organization in the days when that group
tried to promote better relations* between Britain and Hitlerland.
Lord Londonderry and Lord Stamp were also members^ At the time
of the Munich crisis. Captain Ranisay, Lord Londonderry and Baron
Mottistone publicly defended the appeasement of Hitler, who,
however, did not stay appeased. More recently, Captain Ramsay
issued a manifesto of anti-Semitic tendencies.
No specific reason was given for the arrest of the
prominent member of Parliament, save a general statement concerning
all of the persons
taken into custody. The statement reads:-



FIFTH COLUjIN - 2
«This action was taken because of the danger that organizations
in which the persons concerned are leading members might be used
for the execution
01
acts prejudicial to thesecurity of the state.
Another prominent hnglishman was arrested - though
that1 s not so much of a surprise. Sir Oswald Mosley, the British,
I
Fascist leader A The police raided his Fascist organization, but
he wasn’t there. They looked for him at one place and another,
and then found him - and took him away to prison. Mosley, of
course, has been an advocate of friendship with Wazi Germany, and
has been agitating against the continuance of the war.
Simultaneously, the London Government struck at the
Irish Republican Army in Britain - ordered the expulsion of a
hundred and sixty-seven members of the I.R.A., the extremist
outfit accused of Kxxxixixzxfcsx various acts of terrorism.




IKfcLAI^C
Tae British are becoming coicerned about Ireland.
They’re worried about the possibility of the Germans invading
Ireland to get a crack at Britain frcwn the west, the back door.
Today Major Clement Attlee, Lord Privy Seal, told the House of
Commons tnat London and Dublin have been exchanging information,-
(X
discussing the danger of Nazi penetration of Eire.
A
This was follov.ed by a statement in Dublin by Sean
0’Kelley, Deputy Prime Minister. • He used the following words and
they’re worth pondering upon. ”1 am hopeful,” said the Deputy
Prime Minister, ”that out of the present crisis good will come to
Ireland. But,” he added, ”1 hope -the completion of our great
national ideal will be achieved without any outside interference
whatever - except such aid as the government asks in the name of
the people.” What he meant by ”our great national ideal” is made
clear by another thing he said. He spoke of the Irish determination
to secure the unity of all Ireland - get Ulster and the northern
counties in a union with the rest of,the island.
Kazn

-as-the-gov emmeirt^
in“1:he--name—of tho pcopler* Sf?a^-ley


IRELAND - 2
trtio follov.ipgr^^v.e will not let anybody come here and try to
take advantage of our people or exploit our country for the
advantage of some other country." And-thet-meant-attggest^Bs.
...
_
(have
beenj
There^xx/gTorles of possible Fifth
Column operations in Eire - an unusual number of German
"TTo?
newspapermen and visitors in Dublin. Aumor - that the Irish
A
Bepublican Army have been in contact with Nazi Germany. There
was a police raid on an I.R.A. arsenal. Revolvers and bombs
were seized, and they are said to be weapons of German pattern.



SHAJ
l
The dread crisis to Great Britair
George Bernard Shaw — typically Shavian. G.B.S. is as sprightly '
as ever . In London today he said that Hitler has made - an awful
blunder. What kind of blunder? "The mistake of frightening the
British," says Shaw. ■ He was talking about the war dictatorship
set up in London, and e^ressed himself as follows:!- "Now that
wefre thoroughly frightened/T said he, "wefll be all right.
Until the English are frightened," observed Shaw, "they never do
anything but play cricket, football, he
Then the Irish wit and dramatist expanded his idea in
these terms:- "The Kaiser," said he, "made the mistake of frightening
the English, and now Hitler has made the same awful blunder. And
he1 s going to find out what we1 re like when we1 re frightened. "
If out-talking the enemy were of any use, George Bernard
#