WHEN THE RUSSIAN SNOWS MELT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 57, 19 March 1943, Page 4

WHEN THE RUSSIAN SNOWS MELT

THE thaw, .which loosens the grip of winter in ice-bound Russia has helped the Nazi armies to launch vast counter attacks in conditions more to their liking. The triumphal forward sweep of the Soviet armies throughout the bitter winter months has been arrested while in the central area, the important base of Kharkov has been recaptured. To-day we have the picture of the German invading forces once more sweeping over the desolated plains of central European Russia. Once more the tortured landscape is* pockmarked afresh with devastating explosives and once again the gaunt spectural ruins of towns and villages are serving the purpose of strategical objectives in the* path of the German advance. The changed tone in official British and American commentaries on the Russian situation is sufficient indication to warn us that the position there is causing the gravest anxiety. Whether it will hasten the opening of the long-awaited second front in Eurbpe by the United armies of freedom, or whether we will again be agreeably surprised at some far-sighted strategical movement for which the Soviet Generals are now becoming famous,. remains to be seen. Obviously however the Casablanca conference was the fixing of the future con J duct of the campaign against Hitler and it seems reasonable to assume that the expulsion of Rommel from Africa was regarded by the Allied leaders as the most imperative job in hand. Following the investment of Tunisia a second front could no longer be delayed and the systematic invasion of Italy and occupied France was more or less a ; matter of certainty in the scheme of operations. But when Casablanca was in session Stalin's legions were irresistable. making any military reverse seem ludicrous and out of question. Hitler has hit back, and has hit hard in the heart of the vast front he occupies. The date agreed upon for the opening for a second front, will probably be sacrificed in the face of the new and pressing circumstances which have arisen as a result of the German counter-' blow. We can assure ourselves that now the Russian snows have melted that the long promised British invasion for which the R.A.F. have been intensively paving the way for the past three months will be dictated by thee ourse; of the Russian debacle $nd the diversion of German might from the occupied countries.