ISSUE REMOTE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 August 1941, Page 5

ISSUE REMOTE

BOTH SIDES PREPARING FOR WINTER

RUSSIANS ORGANISING SKI TROOPS. MR GARVIN'S HOPEFUL VIEW. (British Official Wireless.) . RUGBY, August 17. The tone of the messages which various newspapers have been receiving from their special correspondents in Moscow would seem to bear out the great confidence which President Roosevelt expressed in the ability of the Soviet forces to continue their resistance. These messages suggest that the issue of the Nazi-Soviet war is* now more remote than ever, and that there are numerous indications that both sides have prepared for a winter campaign.

Thousands of Russian athletes are preparing for training in north Russia as ski troops, reports one such correspondent. The news which has been received in London that the Germans have begun to dig themselves in about the Smolensk sector can also be adduced in support of this belief. Following the recent report that the Germans were trying to collect 5,000,000 fur coats for their troops against the Russian winter comes a story from Sweden that 400,000 skis have been ordered for the Germans. Mr J. L. Garvin, the distinguished

editor of “The Observer,” gives it as his opinion that “in this ninth week of resistance, it is improbable that the invaders can conquer the Soviet Union before winter. If they cannot, then that winter will seal their fate.”