DANGER PERCEIVED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 July 1941, Page 5

DANGER PERCEIVED

RUSSIA’S DIFFICULT TASK

BEST HOPE IN DELAYING ACTION. COMMENT IN BRITAIN. LONDON. June 30. “The Times,” in a leading article, says: “The Russian-German contest appears to be reaching a climax, and the Germans may have more tangible and more far-reaching successes to announce in the next few days. The Red Army in White Russia is reported to be striving to hold up the enemy’s main body and prevent it from regaining touch with the tank forces, and that is a dangerous situation, as we know from our own experience. “But it is certain that the Russian a?r force has not been driven from the skies, and Germany will not gain a decision while it remains in existence.’’ The military writer of “The Times” says: “The German advance is undoubtedly rapid, but this was expected Possibly the Germans expected it to be faster. The German boast that they have enveloped two Russian armies cannot be ruled out. but their tank and aircraft figures are not acceptable. It is not unduly optimistic to suggest that the Germans were hoping that more sensational events could be reported.” The diplomatic correspondent of the “Sunday Times” comments: “Germany’s immediate objective is, seemingly, to strike at the heart of Russia, hoping that the rest of the country will then disintegrate and so become an easier prey for invasion. The lack of decisive success so far suggests that the Germans have, for the first time, met an army which is equipped in much the same way as their own and which has not lost command of the air.”

Mr John Gordon, writing in the “Sunday Express," says: “If Russia can stand up against Germany for 100 days with the help of Britain and the United States, then we will have Hitler where we want him.”

Mr Gordon adds: “Pin his armies in the snows and harry their transport into chaos. Bomb the German towns till every Nazi soldier is not only in constant peril of his own life but is also in terror for what is happening to his family at home. Then you may see the biggest catastrophic break in a great army’s morale ever known in history. That is the chance we have today; it is the chance of a lifetime.”

GAYDA CAUTIOUS STRENGTH OF RED ARMY. LONDON, June 29. The prominent Italian publicist, Signor Gayda, writing in the “Giornale d’ltalia,” says that no pains have been spared to make the Red Army a great, fearful, fighting machine. It would be a great mistake to think that they could be overcome quickly and easily. All that could be said after the first week’s fighting was that the Germans were advancing. GERMAN DESERTERS (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY. June 29. The Moscow radio announces that German pilots who are not willing to fight against Soviet Russia dropped bombs into the River Dnieper and landed with a Junkers 88 in the vicinity of a Soviet farm.