The Dominion TUESDAY, JULY 28, 1942. RUSSIA AND HER ALLIES

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 256, 28 July 1942, Page 4

The Dominion TUESDAY, JULY 28, 1942. RUSSIA AND HER ALLIES

The responsibilities of Allied leadership at the present difficult, and perhaps crucial, stage of the world war are being Riade, easier by those who clamour for an immediate “second front in western Europe. Part of this agitation is understandable. Russia is being extremely hard pressed on the south-eastern front, and in order to preserve the bulk of his forces intact Marshal Timoshenko has been obliged to make costly territorial concessions to the enemy. A rich field of raw materials and grain production has fallen into the hands of the Germans, in addition to which a grave threat to the Caucasus is developing. Undoubtedly there is need—urgent need —for the Red Army and the Russian people to be supported and assisted by-every sound available means. But to say this is not to say that the time for an Anglo-American counter-offensive on land is ripe The considerations behind so vital a move cannot, in sanity, be those of hurried expediency. They are considerations of Allied world strategy, on which the final outcome of the struggle as a whole may depend. . . - As a means of relieving pressure on Russia the opening ot a second front on the scale of a powerful major offensive would be an obvious boon to the Allied cause. Those who seem, in their impatience, to imagine that this goes unrecognized in London and Washington, or that Russian representations are being disregarded, are creating an unreal picture. They are forgetting the repeated assurances from the best of sources, Russian as well as British and American, that a complete understanding exists between the Allied’ 1 owers on all questions of co-operation. At the same time they aie leaving out of account the imperative need for Britain and the United States to maintain an effective balance of effort in every theatre of v' ar ’ The time may be approaching —it may be near at hand—when a blow against Germany on land in the west can be launched without grave y prejudicing that balance of world effort on which the future depends. But only the high councils of the Allies are in a position to weigh the factors and plan the move. However widespread the impatience and agitation among their own peoples they cannot afford to allay those feelings or reply to their critics in a positive way. Actually, the continued cry for second-front action serves some useful purpose by keeping the enemy in a state of uncertainty. Possibly it is for this reason that Mr. Churchill and his associates have refrained from commenting upon some of the extravagances voiced by over-eager groups. . . . The length to which such feelings can carry anxious people is demonstrated in the petition presented at No. 10 Downing Street on Saturday last by delegates representing London munition workers. Here was an appeal for immediate offensive action on land, supported by the assertion that the British people are “still largely playing the part of a spectator.” At a less awe-inspiring time this would be a wry irony. The munition workers of Britain are charged with the mighty task of maintaining the striking power of their own forces —and assisting those of their Allies, notably Russia on land, at sea and in the air, across the face of the entire globe. A critical conflict, on which hangs the fate of the British Isles main rampart of the Allies—is at. its fiercest in the Atlantic where British seamen, merchant ships and men-of-war are heavily concentrated. Here as much for Russia’s sake as- for our own—there can be no present let-up; nor can we pause or slacken in Egypt where British armoured divisions fed from a great concentration of British material, carried in the ships of the Mother Country and her Allies, are battling to hold the Middle East secure for the combined cause. Laden convoys are carrying British supplies northward to Russia and by . devious seaways to the Indies. At Home aerial, striking force is being constantly renewed and expanded for wider and further opeiations involving the employment of tens of thousands of British and Empire men Behind these vital, interlocking fronts, Britain may be fast accumulating a sufficiency of additional force for the early relief of hard-pressed Russia and suffering Europe. That is the free worlds eager hope, which will come to more rapid realization it the energy oAmpatience is directed to unremitting national effort.