AFRICAN THEATRES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 October 1942, Page 3

AFRICAN THEATRES

SPECULATION IN LONDON

VISIT OF GENERAL SMUTS.

REGARDED AS SIGNIFICANT.

(Special P.A. Correspondent). (Received This Day, 10 a.m.) LONDON, October 18

No Dominion statesman visiting Britain during the war aroused greater interest and speculation than . General Smuts, whose presence today is universally welcomed. From all sides poui tributes to this great Empire statesman, together with conjecture as to what will be the outcome of his visit. It has certainly intensified a feeling that Africa will be an important war centre this winer—this is no mere speculation in view of the present heavy attacks against Malta, which probably cover the passage of convoys, and also in view of Goebbels’s recent incessant prophecies that the British will soon attack in Libya. . General Smuts, in a statement on his arrival, said: “I shall continue to emphasise, to the best of my ability, the importance of the African theatres of war.”

This is taken as a pointer to the tenor of his suggestions to the War Cabinet. Support for Goebbels’s forecast is based on the following: “It is possibly too late for a Western offensive this year, for which reason the best aid which can be given to Russia will be by engaging the Germans in Africa, where the season and climate at present are favourable. In addition, Rommel’s menace to Egypt must be removed. There are also signs that the Germans are making a move towards Africa, and that the Luftwaffe has begun a diversion to the Mediterranean. German troops, it is reported, are moving to the Balkans. General Smuts’s presence is taken as indicating that the African theatres are being affected by great decisions in London as well as by those in Berlin.