JOINT ACTION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 September 1941, Page 6

JOINT ACTION

BRITISH & SOVIET AIMS IN MIDDLE EAST OBSERVATIONS BY GENERAL WAVELL. CONFIDENCE IN TURKEY. (By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright' (Received This Day, 11.35 a.m.) TEHERAN, September 29. General Sir A. Wavell does not think it necessary to create a joint British-Soviet Command in the Caucasus or Iran, but plans are being worked out for the closest co-operation. He expressed these views to a newspaper correspondent in Teheran, where he and his staff are conferring with Russian officers.

General Wavell said he did not think the Germans could push round the north shores of the Black Sea while the Soviet Navy was still active. The Soviet Fleet could only be knocked out by taking all its bases, or by sending the Italian Navy into the Black Sea. The Italians would have to force the Dardanelles or obtain Turkish consent to their passage., and there was certainly no sign that Turkey would consent. General Wavell said he was unlikely to visit Russia. General Wavell will discuss with the Russians the defence of the Caucasus and the joint defence of Iraq, Iran and the great oil wells. He is also expected to study arrangements now being made by British officers and civilian transport experts for sending supplies to the Soviet. Plans are rapidly being drawn up to reorganise the Iranian railway system “and establish large-scale road transport.