Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, JULY 3, 1942. GREAT ISSUES AT STAKE.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 July 1942, Page 2

Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, JULY 3, 1942. GREAT ISSUES AT STAKE.

"WHATEVER course events may be destined to take in Egypt in the immediate future, there can be no doubt about the valour and tenacity with which the men of a number of Empire countries and their Allies have acquitted themselves in the month of hard and disappointing fighting to which General. Auchinleck referred in the stirring order of the day transmitted yesterday. The British Commander-in-Chief has called for a supreme effort to stem the onset of an enemy who has profited thus far by a superiority in armoured force, and to roll him back in defeat. That effort undoubtedly will be made and if success is humanly possible it will be achieved. "Whether the enemy can be halted and broken on a defensive line covering by an adequate margin the naval base of Alexandria and the territory lying beyond is meantime an open question, but there are some elements of hope in the situation, not least in the fact that, as against an enemy whose communications are stretched and strained in what may prove to be an extreme degree, reserves of fresh men and material are being brought into play by the Allies, Units of the New Zealand Expeditionary force have already taken a noteworthy part in the battle of retreat to the EL Alamein line and in doing it have written, though not unhappily without paying the inevitable pric.e, a now and bright page in the history of the North African campaign. Much is still to be expected of the total strength of the reorganised and reinforced Eighth Army, although a great deal must depend on readily and immediately available supplies of material and equipment, about which, naturally, nothing specific can be made known in advance of events. It is now obvious to all beholders that what has been lost in North Africa must be regained and more than regained if a promising measure of air and sea command is to be re-estab-lished in the Mediterranean and adjacent areas. As matters stand, the British naval forces in the Eastern Mediterranean are being forced into a contracting p'oeket and the enemy is possessed of great advantages of air command, from both north and south, over the narrows of the Mediterranean in its central and eastern areas. Apart from what possibly may be accomplished in Egypt and elsewhere towards reversing this state of affairs, however, events before long may show that the enemy has paid a higher price than he can afford for the advantages he has gained in North Africa. Whether or not Sebastopol lias fallen, or is on the point of doing so —there is no confirmation at time of writing of the German claim to have captured the fortress—the Russian defenders, in their long-continued and magnificent stand against overwhelming odds have rendered sterling and invaluable service to their own nation and its Allies in. the heavy toll they have taken of enemy men and material and in hindering and delaying the main German offensive. The general aspect of affairs on the Eastern front is very far from being encouraging from the standpoint of Hitler and his fellow-gangsters. At the same time they are menaced as never before by Allied air power in the West and it has been hinted—by the Canadian Prime Minister, Mr Mackenzie King among others —that the time may be near at hand when new and heavy demands may be made on Axis military resources. In the total picture of the war, in the extent to which it can be envisaged, there is a good deal to be set against the unexpected and disappointing setback suffered in North Africa and the difficulties by which the Allies are still confronted in the great matter of shipping .transport and in some others.