THE DUAL BRAY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 8, 21 September 1943, Page 4

THE DUAL BRAY

HITLER'S long awaited outburst, occurred on Friday last, animated no doubt by his growing understanding' of the Italian disaster. Two days later the ears of the world were again afflicted by impassioned denouncement of King Victor and Marshall Badoglio, uttered by Benito himself. From the silence and mystery which surrounded his whereabouts Mussolini has borrowed courage from his brotherdictator and in highly dramatic fashion once again struts across the war stage, urging the Italian soldiers whom he' first betrayed and latei deserted to again take up arms in the cause of Hitler's Germany. The: new turn of events is probably dictated by the growing desperation of the war position of the Nazis who in the face of the success of the vast Russian offensive, the dismemberment of Italy,, the revolt in the Balkans and the growing boldness and enmity of France and the subjugated countries, has at last begun to see the writing on the Avail The past Aveek-end, in the midst of world-shattering events is the more: remarkable for these two speeches'. Hitler's—the infuriated, characteristic venom which the world has so long grown to expect from the stooped lank-haired figure, and Mussolini's—the resurrected toneless bluster which used to sway tens i>f thousands of his countrymen, but which to-day can only be expected to lend fuel to the wave of hatred and execration in which the author of then their misery is held by the average Italian. Compare the two speeches to those which were uttered two and a half years ago by the self same men. Hitler firmly established on the European mainland; head of the greatest army the world had ever known, toying with the prospect of the invasion of England; tossing his legions into the unsuspecting heart of European Russia. His orations at the time are in effect, veritable roars of savage triumph, punctuated by threats and cajolings to the trembling neutrals. Mussolini astradle the whole of the Italian Empire, dominating the Balkans, dictating the war policy of the nation and pouring his troops' into Libya against the retreating English Army. "I sought and was given permission," he blares to the world, "to actively participate in the glory of bombing England." Hoav bitterly he must rue those words to-day. Two speeches we have heard. Two dictators now facing the issue! One a haunted fugitive grasping desperately at non-existant authority; The other fearful, apprehensive and cowed; hiding his Aveaknesses under a screen of invective and calminy. The stage is setting fast for curtains and we may well wonder at the tone of the next speeches to be made by self-same speakers.