Nelson Evening Mail THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3,1942 THREE YEARS OF WAR

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 3 September 1942, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3,1942 THREE YEARS OF WAR

j AFTER three years of the most relentless war in human history we i, find ourselves still toiling up the slope with eyes confidently fixed on - the horizon of victory. How near I or distant it may be will depend on the outcome of the pitiless struggles now raging in south Russia, in Egypt, in the Pacific and on the ocean high- £ ways. Looking back over the road £ we have travelled this last year the £ shadows in the valleys stand etched J more boldly against the background { of conflict than the sun on the hilltops. A period which has witnessed 4 the fall of Singapore, the over-run--4 ning of the precious Indies as far i as the portals of the Antipodes, loss 4 of Burma, further ravages in China. I the threat to Suez, a U-boat blitz, J and the tearing of huge slices from £ the vitals of Russia in two summer > t-ampaigns cannot be construed as N successful from the purely military f angle. f The whole pattern of conflict is { different from that of the last war, > | yet there are certain parallels as well \| as contrasts between the year just j i ended and the third year of the Great J War. In April, 1917, the United V States had become a belligerent but 4 had not begun to unleash that power 4 which was to have such a potent in- £ fluence both physically and morally V on the enemy. France’s offensive i had suffered a disastrous set-back i and there had been mutiny in her : army. Revolutionary Russia was } tottering towards capitulation and £ Italy, then an ally, was struggling J forward uncertainly to a Caporetto ,» before the end of the year. The j submarine war was at its zenith of j | destruction. For the first time the ■’ main weight of the war was begin-; I ning to fall on Britain’s shoulders as I her allies fell away to impotence, j j while the United States was not fully j ! ieady to stand with her in tiiei | breach. The future looked; dark] j then; yet, within fifteen months, the- | Germans followed some of their less- j j er allies and asked for an armistice. !

j To-day the Allies are gathering ! fresh friends as well as massing | giant strength. Within the last year j they have become the United Naj tions, nearly 30 strong. In this war it was the earlier stages that ! Britain hud to see through alone when the margin of survival was slender. Now we knowpretty well who are our friends and who our enemies. The fighting j potential of America is coming more ; quickly into play. Japan is against | us but Russia is still very.much in. ! the fight and tor two summers has, | borne the burden of vicious attacks, | by the most brutally efficient war, j machine the world has known. On] j the other hand Hitler’s Germany and : [militarist Japan may prove (o have!

"" tougher powers of sustained resistance than did the Kaiser's Germany and her satellites. So great was the initial advantage held by the totalitarian Powers that the third year has seen the United Nations lighting back stubbornly, still on the defensive. while marshalling their strength lor greater things to come. The pattern of these is already growing more distinct, yet we have not been able so far to transfer enough striking power to the battle line to match the enemy's all-out efforts. Thus, in the field, our record does not look encouraging, but. as Hitler has taught us, the front line is only part [ of total war. Industrial strength be, mg mobilised has yet to be thrown | into the scale-pan and of the United H Nations’ predominance in war potenI tial there is no doubt. Our great J task is to whip it up, co-ordinate it ij and translate it into actual hitting power. Even with the speeding up " : of production programmes to meet i the present crisis our united strength ! cannot reach its peak before 1943 at !! the earliest. | The most heartening reflection is that, through all the adversities and some triumphs, we. have withstood the most violent shocks. Germany and Japan have made huge territorial gains but they have not won the war and it is as true to-day as it was three years ago that Hitler staked his and his country’s future on a short war and quick victory. That he can never obtain now for the dice £ are loaded too heavily against him. ij He is still trying in 1942 to attain! I' j the objectives of 1940. if he can ho] [contained in those vital theatres! where he is now exerting such i'ren- | zied efforts his downfall and those ] of his minions will come all the; ; sooner. The duty of the United Nations is not to plan for protracted war but to marshal their strength, integrate their strategy and fight intelligently to deliver the knock-out blow in the shortest possible time, i We must eschew a war of attrition and make all possible sacrifice to clip every day we can off its duration in- - i stead of allowing the beastly business to drag on year after year. To do that it is essential to pass 1 from the defensive to the grand offensive by land, sea and air on al! fronts. Before next September comes round we must be hammering our enemies and pressing them hard wherever they may be found. Signs of the emergence of that phase are ' discernible now and they will mature more quickly provided we can wea- i ther the fury of the totalitarian storm now raging. Mr Churchill’s visit to - Moscow deserves to be singled out t j from the year’s eventful catalogue . as a portent of co-operation in a j common cause. The thousand-bomber raids over Germany, and the naval i ! victories of Coral Sea and Midway .’ ! are favourable omens. Nine months i ! to the day after Pearl Harbour the ! Americans felt competent to drive an offensive spearhead into the outer t : rim of Japanese Pacific conquests. ' i These are but pointers to the shape .| of things to come. Sober estimates | have for some time led to the belief j that it would be the fourth year before our mounting combined strength would be sufficient to turn from a general defensive and go out after J the enemy in a general offensive. To some extent public demand for vigorous action has outrun capacity to , stage it. But that should not be so ' much longer. The spirit of attack is 'bubbling up within the United Nations waiting for the word to boil ' over. Despite the temporary shadows , which cloud our fortunes the fourth year of war should see our prepara- '' tions. both physical and moral, j crowned by action, first to wrest the J initiative from the enemy, then to I turn the tables on him and finally [ to bring ffim to his knees.