War Day by Day

Taranaki Daily News, 21 September 1940, Page 6

War Day by Day

(By Our Special Observer.)

^ Comment on the News Middle East Campaign Importance in Scheme

Opinion differs upon the status of the imminent battle in Egypt in the general strategic scheme of the war. A commentator stated from. London yesterday that every other activity was a side-issue to the German attempt to destroy the capital city of the British Empire. This view is supported by many facts, not the least of which is that the Nazi leader has considered it worth while to alienate, by his terrorist campaign on the civilian population of London, any scrap of moral support remaining to him in neutral countries. But if the Middle East must be accepted as a subsidiary theatre of war, it becomes none the less a most important secondary sphere. Politically, the effect of a decisive defeat for Italy in the deserts of Egypt would have tremendous repercussions. Upon the nations of the Balkans the effect would be of momentous consequence. But of greater importance would be the shock to the Italian people. Basically the Italian is an individualist, and is inclined to think for himself, which is against all the rules of totalitarianism. Already the Italian sailor has pienty of grounds for thought, and without doubt some serious misgivings. A spread to the army of the navy's lack of enthusiasm to combat the British Mediterranean fleet might cause Italy's withdrawal from the war. s * Doubts Arising in Italy? It might seem a very remote possibility at the moment to imagine that Italy would desert her Axis partner, but extraordinary things have happened in this war, and things as extraordinary might recur. Thero have been curious reports travelling the grape-vine route of Italian manoeuvres for a separate peace. Some observers hold that the absence of warfever among the more sober and farseeing elements in Italy explains the fact that the Government of a country

too poor to sustain a long war has so far been extremely dilatory^and cautious in prosecuting any effort that might bring a rapid result. Somaliland was little other than a prestige-building affair, and certainly not an event which could, when once the exhilaration of the moment had passed, be for long regarded as a serious reverse for Britain. The demonstrations that Italy is within the range of Britain's air force; the passage of "a continuous stream of convoys" — one of them "the largest to move anywhere since the war began" — through the whole length of the Mediterranean, contemptuous of the Italian fleet; the repeated postponements of "invasion dates"; all are reasons for doubting that th? British Empire will provide tlie easy pickings the jackal Fascist party leaders once visualised. Italian Regard for America# It may well be, however, that the event which would have the most penetrating effect upon th'e minds of the Italian masses would be the demonstration of United States siipport for Britain by the recent transfer of destroyers. America has been the Mecca of the Italian immigrant. There the humble peasant could grow rich and there he could establish his family in stirroundings enviable by comparison with Italian standards. From the United States dollars could flow back to an immigrant's parents, themselves too set to be uprooted and transplanted to Ihe new land, but able thereby to participate in the cornucopia represented by the United States. All this sentiment the Fascist Party endeavoured to obliterate by inculcating an intense nationalist spirit. But the memory of the potent force of the dollar was always kept alive by the circumstance- that the glories of ancient Italy made the country attractive to tourists. Far more likely than the story that von Ribbentrop spent three hours with Mussolini discussing— at a time like the present— the settlement of post-war Europe is it that the talks centred around matters of more immediate moment, and not the least of these that the Italian people are wanting to see something more tangible than hot-air from their alliance with Germany. Demanding a Diversion? It may be that Italy is demanding from its partner a real diversion of British strength at the time of the greatest test modern Italy has yet faced. In the last war the country faced powerful forces, but it did so with the inestimable advantage of having its seas free to its military effort and its commerce. To-day the position is very different. The Imperial ambitions of the Duce have left Italy with the questionable asset, in present circumstances, of an Empire. Yet on the lifeline of that Empire the White Ensign of the Royal Navy and the Red Ensign of the British mercantile marine flaunt themselves at the sterns of moving ships, whilst the Italian flag droops in the listless air of the harbours. What satisfaction the German Foreign Minister will be able to give to the Italians is naturally a matter only of speculation. Greece's strong stand a month ago has resulted in quietness on the once lively Albanian front. Italy deeply distrusts Russian ambitions :in her own Mare Nostrum and looks askance at Soviet diplomatic manoeuvres' in Bulgaria and Turkey. Herr von Ribbentrop's crowning gaffe is that he swore that England would not go to war. He mocked her people as decadent, soft, selfish and completely lacking in dynamic qualities. He has been proved exactly 100 per cent wrong, and it is not unlikely that he has been reminded of this at Rome, with 'particular bearing on the plight in which Italy finds herself in facing a virile force of British Empire men, British Empire ships and British Empire aeroplaqes.

The Job Must Go On. In the meantime the army of Marshal Graziani approaches the prepared positions of the British army in the western desert. With his flank shelled from the sea and his advance sea base at Benghazi under constant attack from the air, something must soon happen— diversion or no diversion by the Germans. Writing from Mersa Matruh six weeks ago, the London Daily Telegraph correspondent described something of the 60mile radius of fortifications around that port which bars the northern road into the land of the Pharoahs. He describes them as a perfect example of wjr-time exterior decorating. Pill boxes, trenches, dug-outs and depots blend with the dfeert and are hard to make out. Pill boxes are so placed as to make crossfire effective. They are like chessmen— each piece covers another. There are tank traps and white concrete anti-tank obstacles. Altogether the Italian army in Egypt faces many nasty situations. It has the job of meeting them, and we, as Mr. Churchill said, must wait and see what happens. But those words were so un- ' like those usually utterc' by him that ' ffiey strike a chord in the memory which recalls "the smile on the face of ti/* tiger."