TOUCH OF HYSTERIA

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 October 1941, Page 5

TOUCH OF HYSTERIA

IN DEMANDS FOR BRITISH ACTION AIMED AT SUPPORTING RUSSIA. TIME OF HEAVY SACRIFICE. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, October 12. To a chorus of demands that Britain should take immediate military action in support of Russia was today added the voice of the Communist Party of Great Britain, which stated: “The honour of Britishers is at stake. If Russia is let down, history will demand a terrible retribution.” i The “Daily Mail,” in a leader, says: “Uninformed criticism of the British aid for Russia is now followed in some quarters by a frantic campaign for the establishment by Britain of a second fighting front. There is a touch of hysteria in a campaign for invasion anywhere and at any price, which could prove dangerous.” The situation on the Eastern Front dominates the Sunday Press (reports a British Official Wireless message). Everywhere the extreme gravity of the situation is reflected,'and though without exception the question as to whether Russia will be able to resist this latest and greatest German offensive and continue the campaign' into the winter is answered in the affirmative there is nowhere any doubt expressed as to the heavy sacrifices both in the geographical sense and in equipment and men which our ally will have to endure. THE NAZI GAMBLE. “The general opinion appears to be that Hitler has put all the resources! at his disposal into the present offensive in an attempt both to capture the Soviet capital and annihilate the Russian forces before the real winter sets in. His losses mean nothing to him so long as he is successful in these two aims. The majority of writers are less certain of the power of Russia to prevent his achieving the former than the latter aim. in failure in which, in spite of the possible necessity of evacuating Moscow, they express considerable confidence.” After giving an unsparing picture of Russia’s peril, Mr J. L. Garvin in “The Observer” turns to the favourable aspects of the situation. He says: “Our eastern allies are resolved unto death in their supreme battle for national freedom and against racial slavery. They know this is the direst emergency in the whole history of the Russian people. They fight with desperation in the elementary sense, but not for a moment do they despair. “In the heart of Russia, at fearful cost to themselves but matched by the German losses, they are holding back the enemy’s pressure across all the approaches to Moscow. There has never been a greater flame of national spirit in the world. The brains and resolve of their leaders are equal to the endless courage and endurance of the rank and file of the whole people.” Mr Greenwood, Minister without portfolio, When making a speech at Blackburn, today, said, “a few days ago Hitler made a speech to the German people. It could not have been intended to impress us or our Allies; its object was to put new heart into his subjects, who face under grim conditions, their third year. As a conqueror who has laid waste and brought under

his rule country after country, his tone was sombre and subdued. He knows the tremendous losses the Germans have sustained. He was at great pains to prevent them from becoming known to the German people, because he fears the reaction it would produce. “But we cannot close our eyes to. the weight of Hitler’s new attack.”