The Southland Times WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1940. The World Awaits the Outcome

Southland Times, Issue 24228, 11 September 1940, Page 4

The Southland Times WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1940. The World Awaits the Outcome

THE CABLE pages are now so full of air raid reports that readers may be inclined, to wonder if there has been a complete cessation of other important events. It should scarcely be necessary to point out, however, that the London area has become the focal point of the war. In every part of the world the results of the air battles are being watched with the closest attention. Public interest may be centred mainly on spectacular features: on the successes of the fighter squadrons, on stories of suffering and heroism, and on the changing life of a great city under the pressure of the ordeal. But statesmen and diplomats are looking for other kinds of evidence. In friendly and hostile countries there will be the same eagerness to discover the meanings of the total situation. Every possible source of infoi-mation will be tapped for news that can be separated from, the last coloration of propaganda. Mussolini in ' his immense room overlooking a Roman square, President Roosevelt with telephones at his elbow linking him to State departments in Washington, Japanese officials in Tokyo, rulers and potentates scattered through the warm countries of the Middle East—all these men are consulting the latest reports, asking the same questions, and waiting hopefully or anxiously for different answers. Are the German bombers reaching a climax of destruction? Are the British defences beginning to weaken? What is the condition of the aerodromes? Have there been really serious losses of foodstuffs in the. shattered warehouses? Are there signs that civilian morale is beginning to crack under the strain? Great Issues

Upon the true answers to these questions large issues are depending. It is possible that Mussolini, summing up the situation with characteristic realism, is trying to decide whether the time is coming when he can safely order the invasion of Egypt or a descent upon Greece. During these past few weeks ■ the Italians have been curiously inactive. The anti-Greece campaign has subsided, the navy returned to its bases while a large British convoy was escorted safely through the Mediterranean, and even at Malta the Italian air raids have been halfhearted. If there were symptoms of a British collapse, Mussolini would bestir himself to announce the approach of great events. He knows, too, that while the London defences are warding off the full weight of the attacks, the clays are creeping towards the uncertain autumn weather. The air raids may be doing much damage; but can they smash the vital supports of the stronghold, and subdue the spirit of its defenders quickly enough to leave the country wide open to an invasion? Never before in world history has so much depended on the fate of one city. For if is here, in the dog fights high above the streets, in the deep shelters shaken by the impact of bombs, and in the homes and factories where men and women are striving to carry out their daily tasks, that the innumerable threads of strategy have been drawn to a central point. It is here that the battle for a Christian civilization is being fiercely joined. The present series of raids marks the crescendo for which the Nazis have been preparing, and the climax is yet to come. At such times there is something more than a thought of pros and cons in the minds of Englishmen. They are ready for the worst, and their enemies will wait in vain for the symtoms of weakness. London is an ancient and proud city; the strength and anger of its people will rise to meet and overcome these present dangers. And afterwards there will be a sequel that will not be relished in Germany.