THE TOUCH OF HITLER

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 230, 25 October 1940, Page 4

THE TOUCH OF HITLER

BLITZKRIEG and fearsome propaganda having failed to intimidate the phlegmatic complacency of the British nature, an enraged Hitler has turned the vials of his wrath upon weaker and inoffensive neighbours. The latest news from Europe indicates another table-thumping display by the German Dictator in a fiery interview with , the erstwhile' French Premier, M. Laval. No sooner had this news been digested a,nd the usual flock of rumours started on their course, than further information arrives of Herr Hitler's frontier meeting with the Spanish Dictator, General Franco. Just what is hatching in the distorted brain of this powerdrunken maniac is difficult to hazard, but putting two and two together it would appear that new and nearer allies are required to crush the indomitable little island which is the last outpost of freedom and demoaracy left in a fear-crazed* Europe. The whip of force will be used upon the naked back of helpless France, and the spineless Vichy Government will in all probability be forced to declare war, haply, as we know without the desire or consent of the French people. Even in. the event of Hitler making France an unwilling ally, she can at the most only hope for half-hearted co-operation. But it is a different proposition with Franco, who despite his own distaste for a hand# in the European hotchpotch has definite obligations to fulfil. The task of putting his own house in order is for Franco a full time job and the latest dictator knows this full well, but, at the same time with Germany's active assistance during the civil war and in view of her seeming success at the present moment it would be difficult for Spain to ignore the German demands. Having once bagged Frajfice and Spain, Hitler would then feel freer to put his plans into operation. With the whole of the French resources at his disposal, the projected invasion would. be somewhat simplified, and the remnants of the French Navy and. Air Force, valued aquisitions. Nothing could be gurer, but that to Spain would be entrusted" the little job of taking Gi.bralter. and thus removing the greatest thorn in the side of Italy's plans for the longwinded North African campaign. Having thus dominated the whole of North-Eastern Europe, Hitler will also feel freer to con- - centrate on the drive into the Balkan States, which was prefaced two weeks ago by the virtual annexation of Rummania for the sake of the famous oil wells. Meanwhile; the policy of the U.S.A. is becoming daily more clear, and important announcements: regarding the obligations of the American Navy in Atlantic and Pacific waters make pleasant reading to Britishers throughout the world . The American attitude is fast crystalising into very active measures against the growing threat of the Axis Powers. And so the world awaits the next move, while the greatest intrigue in. its history is carried on by an ex-paperhanger and a onetime blacksmith.