Wairarapa Times-Age MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1941. SHADOWS OVER HITLER.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 February 1941, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1941. SHADOWS OVER HITLER.

T?.\R as the war is from being won. there is no longer any doubt that Britain ami her allies are fighting with everimproving prospects and that in a corresponding degtee tin shadows of ultimate defeat are beginning to gat iter over Hitler, his gang and his dupes. To a very great extent, cm tent piedictions on both sides ol the Atlantic of an early and serious crisis in the war rest on a well-grounded belief that Hitler cannot afford to wait on the march ot events but is bound to make some desperate effort for victory before he finds himself visible and inevitably doomed to defeat. There is. of course, no question of the democracies expecting to make an automatic or easy approach to victory. On the contrary. precisely because the enemy cannot all ord to wait, it is to be expected that he will make an effort of maximum violence in the immediate future.' For the moment, however, it remains a matter of speculation whether the Nazi dictatorship is likely to concentrate all its powers on an attempt to invade and overthrow Britain, to turn instead to action in the Mediterranean or to engage in both these undertakings simultaneously. On the ground that nothing else than a conclusive invasion of Britain would save the Axis, the Polish Prime Minister. General Sikorski, believes that an invasion will be attempted, though he is of opinion also that the attempt will fail and fail disastrously. That the Nazis will face ultimate defeat unless they can overcome Britain on her own territory is incontestable, lint it has been suggested by Mr. Wickham Steed in the course of a 8.8. C. broadcast, that Hitler may endeavour to gain some success in. the Mediterranean as a preliminary to an invasion of Britain. This suggestion gains plausibility perhaps chiefly from the necessity of doing something to assist and support Italy if her complete collapse is to be averted. The question of action in the Mediterranean may appear to Hitler and his associates less as desirable than as necessary. With Benghazi in British hands and her army in Libya reduced to a third or less of its original strength, with the loss of her whole African Empire (with the possible exception for the time being of Western Libya) in imminent prospect, and with her forces in Albania suffering unrelieved disaster at the hands of the Greeks, not to speak of her naval and air defeats and losses, Italy is in rather obvious danger of complete collapse. Action in the Mediterranean which formerly might have appealed to Hitler for its own sake may now commend itself as offering the only hope of keeping Italy ostensibly on her feet, as a combatant. Of possibilities of action by the Nazis in the Mediterranean two at present chiefly command attention. One of these concerns the enemy’s prospects of gaining control over what is left of the French fleet and of bases in French North Africa. For what it is worth current news suggests that, these prospects are bad. It is indicated not only that Marshal Petain and some of his colleagues, particularly Admiral Darlan who is now taking the post of Vice-Premier in addition to that of Minister for the Navy, are standing out as far as they can against the extreme pressure imposed by the Nazis but that General Weygand doos not intend to allow North African bases to pass into German hands. The Nazis cannot well be prevented from making use of naval and air bases in Southern France as an addition to those they are now using on the Channel and Atlantic, coasts of France, but it still seems likely that they will be refused North African bases or the use of the remaining French warships. It may be hoped that the possibility of the French North African colonies ultimately throwing in their lot with Britain and her allies—a possibility which incidentally has a most interesting bearing on the Italian hold on Western Libya—remains open. The other possible or probable line of German action in the region of the Mediterranean chiefly to the fore at present is a Balkan offensive by way of Bulgaria. The small and ill-provided Bulgarian Army is hardly likely to be regarded by Germany as a serious obstacle even should Bulgaria attempt to defend her neutrality. To that extent and assuming that Russia intends still to hold aloof, the Germans tire faced by an open opporlunity in the Balkans, (hi the other hand, they have to reckon, not only on resolute opposition by Greece and Turkey, Inn on the likelihood that Britain, thanks Io the victories won in Libya, will be able to give her Balkan allies prompt and strong support. The collaboration of land, sea and air forces which has produced magnificent results in the conquest of Cyrenaica no dmihl will he brought to bear on other theatres ol war as opportunity and occasion suggest, (hi tin- other hand Hitler’s ability to strike is not of necessity equalled by his need to strike, if he can.