IMPORTANT DECISIONS

Southland Times, Issue 24835, 29 August 1942, Page 5

IMPORTANT DECISIONS

EXPECTATION IN LONDON (Special Correspondent, N.Z.P.A.) (Rec. 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, Aug. 26. With Mr Churchill not only safely back from his fourth hazardous war-time journey, but already hard at work, there is general expectation throughout London that important decisions are imminent. No competent observer here seeks to conceal the stark truth that the military situation confronting all the United Nations is serious and does not show any immediate sign of getting better. But to admit the gravity of our position is no indication of faint heartedness. Certainly Mr Churchill showed no depression after his journeyings. He looked in the pink of condition and radiated confidence. Here was the nation’s leader, fresh from the desert battle-field, where he viewed at first hand the military position, and from war-torn Russia and secret Moscow conferences, where presumably M. Stalin held back no in-

’ formation about Russia’s ability to continue resistance against the Nazis and strike back. His reaction, as he told a Paddington station bystander, was that he was refreshed rather than tired, which, coupled with his Cairo reference to forthcoming “great and decisive events,” should engender thoughout the United Nations the same sober confidence that Mr Churchill told Cairo correspondents that he felt. DEMAND FOR ACTION But confidence cannot be sustained by words alone. That is why the popular demand for action continues. As The Times remarks: “Neither the Dieppe dress rehearsal nor the progressive bombing of the western nerve centres of Nazi war production has relieved the continuing sense of an inadequacy in British military achievement at a time when our Russian allies face the supreme crisis—a sense which translates itself in a demand not for premature or ill-considered action, but for strengthening our military organization and its better adaptation to meet the present emergencies.” Some observers express the opinion that a radical overhaul of Britain’s supreme war direction is likely to follow Mr Churchill’s homecoming, with General Sir Archibald Wavell' again emerging from the comparative obscurity of the India Command to occupy a prominent place. The fact that General Wavell accompanied Mr Churchill to Moscow is regarded as significant. Mr Churchill will give his first public account of his journeyings to the House of Commons after the summer recess. The Prime Minister will be unable to give much detailed information about the secret conferences in which he was engaged, but he will present a general account of those events and probably review the general war situation in the light of personal knowledge gained during his tour and announce changes—if any. RUSSIAN DETERMINATION Mr Churchill is reported to be particularly impressed by the Russians’ indomitable determination to fight on at all costs—a determination which he found to be inspired by a profound and unquenchable hatred of the enemy. The Russians certainly need that inspiration. The Battle for Stalingrad has worked up to a climax this week after more than a fortnight’s bloody delaying action westwards of the Don River Elbow, which cost both sides dearly. Field-Marshal Fedor von Bock obviously realizes that his tired armies—they have advanced some 300 miles, fighting continuously since early in May—will be unable to maintain the pace indefinitely. Therefore, he has thrown in everything available for a supreme blow aimed at over-running the lower Volga area, thereby hoping to crown one of the mightiest offensives throughout history. Preceded by a concentrated blitz, in which the Luftwaffe is employing at least 3000 planes, from the south-west the German spearheads are within 35 miles of the city, the loss of which would be the most serious blow Russia has yet suffered and would intensify the need for counter action from Britain and America.