UNITED COMMAND

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 August 1942, Page 3

UNITED COMMAND

CONSIDERED SERIOUSLY BY ALLIES •— f SECOND FRONT DEMANDS IN RUSSIA. ANTICIPATION OF JAPANESE ATTACK. ! ' (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, August 3. The creation of a British and American high command composed of the chiefs of staff of both countries, to sit probably in London directing the broad strategy of the war, is being seriously considered by responsible officials in Washington and London, says the “New York Times” Washington correspondent today. ' “It is now freely admitted that the combined chiefs of staff committee has not fully succeeded in combining the military efforts of both countries, and therefore it must be changed before a major offensive is attempted,” he adds. “lire Soviet Union, Britain and the United States reached an agreement regarding the creation of a second front in Europe in 1942,” said the Moscow radio. “Germany will be confronted with 15,000,000 men, 85,000 tanks, 100,000 guns, and 50,000 planes.” London diplomatic observers believe that Japan is likely to stab Russia in the back within a few weeks, says the "Daily Mail’s” political writer. The Russian strength in the localities likely tcxbe affected is known to be very conr/derable and the United Nations’ strat. egy has provided for such an attack. The Moscow correspondent of “The Times” says there is no doubt that a tide of disappointment and suspicion is rising rapidly among the Russians as the second front does not appear, specially in the army, where the Germans are playing on their nerves by dropping millions of small leaflets bearing only the words: “And the second front?” “When M. Molotov returned from the west in June it was popularly felt that the war had entered a new phase, and that, though the Germans would mount a great offensive, they were inhibited by the growing danger from the west, and consequently would be handicapped in the speed and weight of their attack. There are no signs of such inhibitions,” says the correspondent. “On the contrary, since the approximate time of the signing of the AngloRussian Treaty, 16 German divisions, including two panzers, have been withdrawn from France and the Low Countries, where only nine remain—a garrison less than Norway’s. Now the Russians are being told that planes are being transferred to the Russian front from Egypt. It is believed that the equivalent of 15 Hungarian, 12 Rumanian, and 10 Italian divisions are in action between Voronezh and the Caucasus.” The London “Daily Herald,” in a leader under the heading “Cliveden and Stalingrad,” attacks Lady Astor for her speech cabled yesterday. The “Herald” says: “We are indebted to you. for one of the war’s most brilliant, unhelpful public utterances. You are not entitled to complain if you j ’ we accused of calculated hostility to an ally. The Anglo-Russian Treaty makes nonsense of your statement that the Russians are fighting for themselves—or else your statement makes nonsense of the treaty.”