Manawatu Evening Standard. TUESDAY, JUNE 11, 1940. MUSSOLINI JOINS HITLER.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 164, 11 June 1940, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. TUESDAY, JUNE 11, 1940. MUSSOLINI JOINS HITLER.

Italy has declared war on the Allies. The event long forecast from Rome has comeTo pass, and it has been launched when Erance and Britain are engaged in, the greatest of battles witii the Nazi hordes on the Western Front. Mussolini has chosen his time with the cunning of the dictator, or else been compelled by Hitler to do so. The epic courage of the French in withstanding the Nazi attacks launched with violence unsurpassed, and helped by the British forces in part of the line, has aroused the world’s admiration. Ground lias had to be given in some parts but at no' stage, in spite of the grave situation, have Hitler’s enormous forces made the. progress they anticipated when the attack was commenced following the withdrawal from Dunkirk. And more and more help is coming from Britain for the 'Allied troops to defeat an implacable enemy. That result is assured, but in the midst of this titanic conflict Italy has determined to not only stab the Allies in the back but to prolong a war that has caused immense suffering, destroyed peaceful landscapes, ruined towns and cities, and flung many people into a tyrannous subjection to pagan overlords. That is Italy’s crime against civilisation, premeditated and planned in conjunction with Hitler. Mussolini brazenly declares that his conscience is clear. When, it may be asked, did a dictator possess such a thing? All' his statements that Italy has tried to avoid this storm by having treaties revised is so much lying and subterfuge. Hitler’s peace offers were repulsed simply because he cunningly sought to entrap Britain and France into a condition in Europe which would have encompassed their ruiu. The Democracies were not to be caught napping and they stood firm.

The Allied Governments have known of this impending - storm and have made their preparations. Mr Winston Churchill told Mussolini bluntly a few weeks' ago that the Allies were not afraid of his decision to join Hitler, much as they would desire otherwise. The war in the Mediterranean must take its course. Italian troops are said to have already invaded France through the Riviera last evening. Nice, Corsica, Tunisia have been Italian battle cries for months past, giving the key to Mussolini’s ambitions. He wants these places to make his position in the Mediterranean powerful enough to cut off the east* from the west. He lias not included the Balkan States or Turkey in his declaration of war. Perhaps it is that Moscow’s blunt warnings have made him hesitate, but Mussolini will yet find that he has unearthed a hornet’s in the Mediterranean which will sting him to defeat. He lias dragged the Italian people at the chariot wheel of Hitlerism for so lengthy a time that they are now

drugged, but the shattering blows of war will soon awaken them from their imposed lethargic state, and then they will see how they have been duped by their Fascist masters. It is Britain that Mussolini wishes to see humbled, the British Empire for its greatness and good government, that has barred the way to a world dictatorship by Hitler and Mussolini and will continue to do so until right prevails over this war torn world.