The Rising Tide

Southland Times, Issue 24882, 23 October 1942, Page 4

The Rising Tide

The inarch on Paris, an irresistible temptation to a dictator who wanted to look, as a conqueror, upon the tomb of Napoleon, was a first mistake that gave Britain her breathing space after the evacuation of Dunkirk. Later came the invasion of Russia, a blitzkrieg that declined into an “appalling blood-letting” which will be a major cause of Germany’s ultimate defeat. And finally the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, spectacular in its immediate results, “consolidated and crystallized American opinion as nothing else could have done.” The mobilization of world forces has been completed. Now is the time to give the drama its climax, to set in motion the armies of liberation. And here the speaker introduced a note of warning. “The situation,” he said, “is ripening for great developments. Time hitherto has been on the side of the United Nations, and once the time came to take the offensive it would be folly to hesitate. Nor were the United Nations likely to do so. On this point it would be unwise for me to say more.” The pause was tantalizing. General Smuts, if he were free to speak, could say a great deal more. His presence in London, the privileges extended to him by Parliament, the obvious building up of public interest around his impressive figure, all seem to encourage the feeling that big events are approaching. He is a counsellor to whose wisdom Mr Churchill has more than once paid tribute. His opinions are certain to have been studied by the War Cabinet. What is to come, the time and place chosen for an offensive, are matters about which there will be lively speculation. But the central truths of the war situation have been placed before British people at a moment of special significance. Evidence has been growing to support the belief that the worst days are over. There is a kind of instinct which mysteriously stimulates the moods of the nations, and for some time past the people have been feeling their way towards a new and sounder confidence. This is not the untried confidence of those who take victory for granted before the battles are over. It is a confidence shaped amid defeats and humiliations. Its elements are the sober realization of mistakes, the adoption of new ideas, the acceptance of sacrifice, and the discovery of a strength renewing itself after a great deliverance. The speech of General Smuts will be remembered because it gave the factual background for this new, aggressive spirit. There are moments when the war needs to be shown to the people as a panorama. The unrivalled speeches of Mr Churchill have always had this supreme quality of clarification. It was to have been expected that the Prime Minister would give another of his famous broadcasts at the opening of a new phase of the war. In giving the task to a Dominion statesman he has made a gesture which may have much more than a personal significance.