AFTER THE ARMIES

Evening Star, Issue 23691, 26 September 1940, Page 10

AFTER THE ARMIES

FAMINE IN EUROPE SERIOUS PROSPECTS Germany has spread war, destruction, and despoliation over Western and Eastern Europe, wrote the diplomatic correspondent of the 1 Manchester Guardian,’ on June '26. The consequences may prove disastrous to Germany as well as to her victims. Countries which'wore rich and prosperous are being reduced to misery and want. Germany, which boasted she was selfsufficient in foodstuffs, is seizing not merely the industrial raw materials of the countries she is occupying, but also their food. Austria and Czecho-Slovakia were countries where plenty became shortage when they were seized by Germany. Poland was a rich agricultural country which exported foodstuffs. Under the German occupation it is in a pitiable condition. Scandinavia and Belgium and Holland had foodstuffs in plenty. Some of them were important suppliers of foodstuffs to Germany, They imported their full needs of those things they did not produce at home, the only restriction imposed by the Allies being that they should not import surpluses from abroad for Germany. These countries are all facing a very grave situation since they have been occupied by Germany. In Norway, where food and raw material stocks have been seized by the Germans, there is a fodder shortage, and live stock is being slaughtered at a dangerous rate. There is a local food shortage, particularly of fats. The margarine industry of that country is ruined. CATTLE SLAUGHTERED. The Gormans have seized all the whale oil at hand in Scandinavia. In Denmark a third of the cattle are being slaughtered because of fodder shortage, the pig industry is being destroyed, and the great agricultural system is being ruined. Belgium is faced with famine conditions within the next two months. In Holland, where the destruction caused by the German armies has been enormous, a grave position threatens. The damage done in France cannot yet bo assessed, but it is on an enormous scale.

The whole economy of Europe has been unbalanced by the German invasions. Agricultural labour has been displaced by the war. Sowing has been restricted. There is a widespread shortage of fertilisers. "Crop prospects in South-eastern Europe are expected to be bad to moderate. It is not expected that Russia will be able, even if she wished, to deliver anything like as much as Germany expects. Germany, which has so far profited from her invasions, has long-range prospects—perhaps not so long—which are serious, too. Up to the present, however, food supplies for the army and for important industrial workers have been well maintained, though the general population has had to go short. A serious immediate matter for Germany has been the damage done to her potato crops by the Colorado beetle.