RUSSIN PEOPLE GRAVELY DISTURBED

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 173, 24 July 1942, Page 5

RUSSIN PEOPLE GRAVELY DISTURBED

HELP OF ALLIES

Restive At Delay In Second Front Action

United Press Association.—Copyright. Rec. noon. LONDON, July 23.

The news from the south is making the Russian public increasingly conscious that eight weeks have passed since the agreement between London, Moscow and Washington that the creation of a second European battlefront this year was a task of immediate importance," says the Moscow correspondent of The Times. "It would be vain to attempt to conceal the fact that there is now a very considerable popular impatience—and public opinion has become a powerful force in the Soviet Union.

"Both in the army and the factory certain reactions have set in to the high hopes so freely expressed last month. The Germans are not missing an opportunity to exploit the feeling. Their propaganda leaflets, showered over the Russian lines on the southern and southwestern fronts, deal with little else except the relations between the Soviet and her her Allies. A story is in circulation in Moscow of how German prisoners at Voronezh shouted tne opinion that Hungary is a better ally to the Germans than Britain is to Russia. Russians, however, are too resolute and astute to be shaken by this mendacious propaganda. Explanations of the weighty problems of Britain and the Inited States are listened to with understanding. The authorities to-day made a notable contribution to relations between Britain and Russia by publishing widely, in extenso, Sir Stafford Cripps' interview last March with the American magazine Life, but the idea is getting round that the desirability of a second European battlefront has become a question for political controversy in Britain. This is having an unfortunate effect."

'Does Sir Stafford Cripps realise that demonstrations are going on all over the country, that work-people everywhere are agitated, and newspaper propaganda is going on daily?" asked Mr. Aneurin Bevan (Labour) in the House of Commons, when questioning the wisdom of Parliament's projected summer recess. How would it be possible for Parliament to adjourn, he asked, when the country and the newspapers were agitated about the Government's military intentions? He asked for a secret session to discuss the matter. Sir Stafford Cripps said it would be impossible to announce the Government's intentions at either a public of a secret session.

Soviet Envoy Busy in London

The diplomatic correspondent of the Times says the Soviet Ambassador, M. Maisky, is having constant discussions with almost all members ot the British Government. Within recent days he has seen the Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill, the Foreign Secretary, Mr. Eden, and also the Service Ministers. The Soviet Government, so far as its mind can be read from London, appears to believe that its Western Allies are inured against any feeling of anxiety about the Russian front, but the Russians ask that the picture be seen as a whole. Their losses are enormous. Between 40,000,000 and 50,000,000 of their people are in German hands. Half their iron-ore production has been lost. Most of their aluminium production has gone.

There is no question of a sudden, downright Russian collapse. The practical question is whether Russia is to remain capable of delivering devastating counter-blows against the common enemy.