Wairarapa Times-Age MONDAY, MAY 12, 1941. WAR IN THE MEDITERRANEAN.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 May 1941, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age MONDAY, MAY 12, 1941. WAR IN THE MEDITERRANEAN.

4MONGST thinking' people t liroiiglioul the Empire, tiiul nowhere more than in the South Pacific Dominions, there will lie a full acceptance ami approval of the emphatic opinions expressed by Mr Churchill, when he spoke in the House ol Commons last Wednesday, as to the importance of the issues now being fought out in the Mediterranean. Having said that loss of the Suez Canal, loss of our position in the Ylediterraneaii, and loss of Malta would be among the heaviest blows we could sustain, lhe British Prime Minister added : “We are determined to fight for them with all the resources of the British Empire, and we have (“very reason Io believe we shall succeed. This confident assurance is the more to be welcomed since, following on the Axis occupation of Greece and of a number of the Greek islands, there are manifest threats of turfher enemy attack at a number of [mints in the Mediterranean. On visible facts, the immediate outlook in the Western Desert, gives no groat ground for concern. An army ol considerable strength is, established and is being built up in the Nile Delta and the British forces in direct contact with the enemy, in I lie Solium area and at Tobruk, are much more than holding their own. Account has to be taken always of British seapower in the Mediterranean and of lhe enemy's thousand miles of exposed [lank along the coastal route from Tripoli to the Egyptian frontier. There are other aspects of the .Mediterranean situation, however, which give some reason tor anxiety. In the’west, Nazi pressure on Spain and on the weak-kneed A ichy Government. is being intensified. A situation conceivably might arise in which even a stout and successful defence of lhe rock fortress of Gibraltar would not avert the closing to Britain lor the time being of the western gateway to the Incidentally. the possibility of an enemy bid for Casablanca, in Morocco, and Dakar, in French West Africa, as new bases ol attack in the

Battle of the Atlantic, has to lie considered. Meantime, in the eastern Mediterranean, the Germans have occupied, not only mainland Greece, but. a number of Greek' islands lying along the coast of Turkey, and lhe Dodecanese Islands are still in Italian, or Axis hands. In a cablegram which appeared on Saturday, the Cairo correspondent ol the London “Daily Express” was quoted as stating that first-hand information has indicated that the Germans are gathering parachute troops and air-borne troops in the Middle East for attacks on Crete, the Western Desert. Syria and Iraq, and that Sicily, Benghazi, Athens, Rhodes and the recently seized Greek islands are being used as bases. It. is, of course, one thing io shape spacious plans of the kind here suggested and another thing to carry them successfully into effect. There are important elements of strength, as well as some weaknesses, in the British position in lhe Mediterranean. A great, deal depends on factors meantime undetermined, amongst them the likelihood of the Nazis gaining control over Syria, and the extent to which Hitler and his fellow-gangsters feel free, to draw upon their available resources in attempting to extend aggression from Hie Balkans and the Aegean into Asia and Africa. It is taken for granted in some quarters that the next step of the Nazi dictatorship will be to exert maximum pressure on Turkey, with a. view to securing a right of passage through Anatolia. That secured, it has been suggested, Syria • would be no obstacle to the Germans and the way would be opened to a new overland attack on the Suez Canal by way of Palestine. Apart from the increasing provision Britain has made and is making for the defence of Palestine and of areas further east, including Trans-Jordan and Iraq, the predictions mentioned assume that the Germans will be able to maintain an effective occupation of the Greek islands and that Turkey will submit to their demands. Turkey, however, continues to proclaim her determination to defend her independence and integrity, both of which would be gone with the wind if she granted a right of passage to Nazi troops, and it has yet to appear that the Germans will he able to hold the Greek islands and make fully effective use of them as bases for air attack and other forms of attack. Against the advantages the enemy obviously has gained, there are to ho set the far-reaching measure of naval control Britain has established in the Mediterranean and, amongst other things, the retention of Crete as a stronghold and base of allied operations.

At an immediate view, however, it is not to be denied that the Nazis are much better placed than could be desired either to exercise intimidatory pressure on Turkey, or to bypass that country in a direct bid for control over Syria and for the use of bases in that territory. Of the Greek islands now in German occupation, Lemnos and Atitylene are conspicuously of great strategic, importance. With Grecian Thrace, in, enemy occultation and Turkish Thrace note regarded as indefensible, the possession by lhe Germans of Lemnos and Mitylene undermines very seriously Turkey’s ability to defend herself against attack. ’

Lemnos, a large island with a couple of excellent harbours and an aerodrome, lies, in the words of a military writer, “dangerously athwart the routes leading to the Dardanelles.” The island is only 42 miles from the entrance to the Dardanelles and “planes based on its aerodrome could easily scour most of the northern vYegean.” Mitylene, an island two or th ret* times as large as Lemnos and commanding lhe Hay ol' Smyrna, in Anatolia, is perhaps' still more important. In Hit* event of lh<* 'Turks del'ending Analoliti. it is upon the port of Smyrna that they would have Io rely chiefly in maintaining eonlaet with the outside world. Smyrna, too, is lhe terminal point of lhe railtrays that cross the Anatolian plateaii. and if is upon these railways chiefly that Turkey would have Io depend in conveying supplies through a region iti which good roads are few.

ft is not to be denied that as matters stand in the Mediterranean, the Germans have outflanked Turkey and done a good deal to reduce her to helplessness. They are at the same time opening up a new line of attack by air. and possibly by land as well, on the Suez Canal. 11 is not to be taken for granted that the enemy will lie able Io make the most of lhe apparent advantages lie has gained and no doubt he is lakinv risks in the extension of his advance by way of the Greek islands and elsewhere. Prospects tire opened, however, of eonflict on a great scale nt and around the Mediterranean ori land al sea and in the air. At the same time, with the tenqio of battle rising' apace in the decisive areas of Western Europe and the Al laid ic. full point is given to Air Churchill’s observation last Wednesday that: “It remained to lie seen whether Germain- and llatv had gained an advantage or suffered loss by trampling Greece and Yugoslavia into a bloody welter.”