ALL NOT WELL

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20130, 27 December 1939, Page 9

ALL NOT WELL

RUSSIAN SUSPICIONS POSSIBLE DISASTER REASONS FOR HASTE FEAR OF GERMAN AIMS NEW YORK, Dec. 24. The colourless Moscow comi nuiniqucs and the absence of claims . of victory strengthen the suspicions that all is not well at the front, says Mr. G'. E. R. Gedye, the Moscow cor--1 respondent of the New York Times. What is behind the silence? It is not possible to doubt that the Red Army is encountering tremendous difficulties and its Progress is disappointingly slow. It is likely that in the absence of normal supply facilitfes columns carrying supplies for a limited period are under orders to reach the coast ! of the Gulf of Bothnia at a fixed date in order to seize the railway and obtain local supplies. This means their security is dependent upon close adherence to time-table, and any deviation would leave the armies in a deplorable position, unable to replenish their foodstuffs and munitions. Failure of Nazis Only supreme organising genius could avert disaster in such circumstances. The Soviet has not proved that Bolshevism has enabled the Russians to overcome their historic weakness in organising. One reason for the decision to strike at_ Finland may have been the impetuosity of Andrei ZbdanofT. leader of the Leningrad area and the anti-I innish group, but a deeper reason is haste to command the Gulf ot Finland—probably due to the tealisation after the first few months of the European war that the Nazis' ’ number is up.” Tlie Russians see none of von Ribbentrop's boasts being fulfilled. Germany is checkmated by land, sea and an-, withoul proper reserves for a long war, and even worse, a gulf developing between the gang constituting the political leadership and the professional soldiers who in war time inevitably acquire the real centre].

May Turn on Soviet Tiie Soviet leaders are looking to the time when Germany’s old ruling caste, realising that (he war cannot be won, will seek Allied terms in preference to fighting until they arc destroyed. At subh a point, it is believed, Germany will seek victories to salve her prestige, and gain British and French favour by attacking tlie Soviet. In this, doubtless, is the main motive for the desperate haste to advance to defensive positions in Finland and elsewhere. Increasing evidence of basic is forthcoming at the new Russo-German frontier in Poland, where it is now certain Germanv is planning a new East Wall, and ' the Soviet is pushing ahead the construction of defences

Whether or not Hitler really congratul tied Stalin on his birthday, the Soviet attitude was not flattering because tiie message is at present ignored by the press and radio, despite the publication of messages in obscure foreign papers.