THE PRELUDE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 05, Issue 53, 15 May 1942, Page 4

THE PRELUDE

SPEAKING in terms of millions, the gigantic scale of Hitler's long awaited spring offensive can be best appreciated when it is realised that as his vast armies swing- against the Soviet defenders their masses will comprise, manpower sufficient to keep, feed and maintain the whole of the European population in reasonable comfort for a lifetime. It is estimated that for the great Russian offensive the Nazi leader has marshalled six million men, has drained the lands of his allies and has actually recruited widely from the ranks of his victims, many of whom from sheer misery have preferred the comparative ease of service in the German army to slow starvation and oppression which was their lot as civilians. The new move will be a desperate, all in struggle to wrest once more the initiative from the hands of the long suffering Muscovite. The rumble of the campaign has started m the historic Crimea where a million marching feet will stir afresh the thawing soil as the snows of winter recede. The two thousand mile front winding its way northward is bristling with new German divisions awaiting but the wo-d to advance over the wasted land which is the gigantic grave yard of their comrades who could not stand against the pitiless legions of the arctic Russian winter. The prelude is with us to-day! What of the next tremendous act in this programme of infamy. On the western coasc the British fleet ranges unmolested, and without challenge in the Channel, the North Sea and across the stormtossed Bay of Biscay. The R.A.F. continues its hammerblows without respite and at little cost over western Germany. Five million men stand, to arms in the sea-girt British Isles alike, awaiting but the word of command. The prelude is on—and behind the curtains of the future the stage is rapidly being set for the next fateful act. It may rise at any moment and the first indication will be the news of British forces taking swift and deadly offensive backed up by the tornardo of fury which will rise against the oppressors of fifteen enslaved European States. Meanwhile humanity anxiously awaits the shaping of events which will spell its destiny.