Manawatu Evening Standard. MONDAY, JUNE 3, 1940. THE TESTING TIME.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 157, 3 June 1940, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. MONDAY, JUNE 3, 1940. THE TESTING TIME.

Though the Allies have been nine months at war, it is. in but recent weeks that their resources have been put to the supreme test in a conflict which in all its darkness is illumined by one imperishable feature among many other notable achievements —the unconquerable courage of their men and women. When the history of the conflict is writteh no historian, however clever his pen, will be able to describe that greatest" weapon of all on the side of right—the spirit—-or soul —of tlie' people and particularly the fighting men. The technique of war may change, the most rutjiless foe any force has ever faced may devise the most fiendish or insidious new weapons, but in this supreme test which the Empire and her Allies are undergoing there is being revealed once again that possession which lias won,, through -the darkest times and which has vanquished barbarous ingenuity—the inner feelings of those who know they are fighting a just cause. In his calculations of a lightning sweep, first against small States and then against the forces of Britain and France, Hitler has made one colossal miscalculation or omission—that which concerns not how many men, machines, ships of war, or guns the Allies may be able to use, but the fibre of those who man them or provide them. This will of the Allies, so heroically revealed in the fighting in Flanders and France in the face of almost soul-destroy-ing savagery and betrayal by erstwhile friends, is a. Column the destruction of which is the impossible, task now facing our enemies. In the dark days of 1914 when the Allies rallied at the Battle of the Marne the German commander, Yon Moltke, notified Berlin tliat “we must not deceive ourselves; we have had successes, but we have not yet had victory.” Another phrase attributed to the same author was that Germany lost the war with that battle. The position in Flanders and Erance - to-day is not dissimilar. 'The 'Allies have had to reel under the most severe blows; strategic withdrawals have been necessary and often accompanied by tremendously harassing attacks, but in these operations, as messages from the Front repeatedly show, the highest degree of discipline has been maintained and the. uncrush able spirit of men who know their cause is right has shone out with all its sublime glow. - The enemy may claim to have welded together a great striking weapon, built up , over several

years. But in that weapon tlie components are indistinguishable man from machine. The heroism of the Allied forces whereever they have been engaged reveals that they are men with the finest human instincts, plus machines of war. Therein lies the difference, that difference which is to mean victory," though the -road may be long and weary. The situation to-day is unquestionally grave; but all must take heart from the magnificent exploits which have been rendered necessary to cope with the swift changes that have taken place in the last fortnight’. Once the process of readjustment of the Allied line in Erance is completed a new phase will begin, with Britain and Erance more solidly united if that is possible. It must not be forgotten that the main British and French Armies still face the enemy, and when the opportune time comes will assuredly strike back with success. The tragedies of the Low Countries have been a supreme test for the Allies whose fortitude is unbroken and will sustain them again should further grave trials confront them as expected on land, in the air, and on sea. The sublime courage that has been shown by all the Allies’ fighting forces is assuredly a call to the noblest effort of everyone whose duty it is to see that they are not left short of the equipment that such courage deserves and must receive.