Wairarapa Times-Age THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 1941. DAYS OF VITAL ORDEAL.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 April 1941, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 1941. DAYS OF VITAL ORDEAL.

6 time when Hitler and his gang are making another desperate bid to win the early victory which lor them is tlie only alternative to complete and overwhelming disaster, the British Empire and its allies inevitably are confronted by tremendous difficulties and dangers. Nothing can be taken for granted regarding the course, in the immediate future, of the Battle of the Atlantic, in which the whole fate and future of democracy and liberty are at stake, or of the grim struggles that are in progress in Libya and in Greece. There can be no doubt as to the unsparing immediate efforts that are demanded for the maintenance of British sea communications and in preventing the enemy from achieving his essentia] objectives in the Middle East.

In an address to the English-speaking Union in New York, the British Ambassador to the United States, Lord Halifax, has spoken frankly of the serious aspect of the present situation in the Balkans and North Africa, but at the same time has expressed his complete confidence in the ultimate outcome and his belief that, critical as the position is, there, is no reason to suppose that the enemy cannot be held. That -word “held” sums up the vital demand made for the time being on Britain and her allies. Holding their enemy and preventing him from achieving any decisive advantage, they will take an all-import-ant step towards ultimate victory. The Nazis, on the other hand, must achieve their purpose speedily if they are to achieve it at all.

With these cardinal facts in mind, some encouragement is to be drawn from the latest developments of Nazi military policy. The immediate outlook in Greece is critical and, though hopes are raised that the position in North Africa has already been stabilised, and these hopes are brightened by the news of Italian surrender in East Africa, the eastward thrust of the Nazi mechanised forces involves a threat which cannot yet be disregarded to Egypt and the Suez Canal. It remains true, however, that Hitler has been forced, as Lord Halifax has pointed out, to send his legions into areas in which he cannot hope to defeat Britain whatever local advantages he may gain. Much depends on the outcome of the conflict in the Balkans and on the fate of the Turkish Straits, the oilfields of the Middle East, and the Suez Canal, but it is in the Battle of the Atlantic and in direct attack on Britain, if anywhere, that Nazi Germany must seek the decision on which she is intent.

According to the Ankara radio, the Germans have already increased their forces in the Balkans from 38 to more than sixty divisions. It is added that even this increased force has been found insufficient and that further divisions are being rushed south by way of Rumania and Bulgaria. Much as this adds to the immediate gravity of the outlook from the Allied standpoint, it also implies that Nazi. Germany is using no inconsiderable part of her total military strength in what must be classed as a secondary enterprise.

According to a recent computation, the German field army consists of some 210 divisions—a strength of a little under three and a quarter million men—With another 2,000,000 men available in case of emergency for home defence on lines parallel to those of the British Home Guard. The field army in itself is an enormous force, but Germany is under the necessity of garrisoning the western coasts of Europe from Northern Norway to the Bay of Biscay, together with great interior areas of invaded territory and she has strong forces posted also along or near her frontiers with Russia. Whatever the immediate outlook in the Balkans and North Africa may be, it is reasonably safe to conclude that the German troops which have been or ‘ are being sent into those regions would have been employed instead, had the Nazi dictatorship seen any prospect of success in that adventure, in an attempt to invade Britain.