PRAISED BY STALIN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 November 1942, Page 4

PRAISED BY STALIN

THE ALLIED CAMPAIGN IN AFRICA WHOLE WAR SITUATION CHANGED. AXIS FORCES UNDERMINED & DEMORALISED. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) LONDON, November 14. “The Soviet view of the Allied campaign in Africa is that it demonstrates the growing might of the Allied armed forces and opens up the prospect of disintegration of the Italian-German coalition, in the very near future,” said Premier Stalin in a letter in reply to questions put by the Moscow correspondent of the Associated Press, Henry Cassidy. “The campaign again refutes _ the sceptics who affirm that the British and American leaders are incapable of organising a serious war campaign. No one but first-rate organisers could have carried out with such mastery the quick occupation of the harbours from Casablanca to Bougie and the smashing of the Italian and German armies in the Western Desert. “It is as yet too soon to say to what extent the campaign is effective in relieving the immediate pressure on Russia, but it may be confidently said that the effect will not be a small one. and that certain relief in the pressure to Russia will result in the near future. But what matters first of all is the passing of the initiative to the Allies. “The result of the African campaign radically changes the political and war situation in Europe in favour of the British-Russian-American coalition.

“The campaign undermines the prestige of Germany as the leading Axis force, demoralises Hitler's allies, releases France from her state of lethargy and mobilises the anti-Hitler forces in France and provides the basis for the building up of an antiHitler French army. Finally, the campaign creates the prerequisites for the establishment of a 1 second front in Europe nearer to, Germany’s vital centres. The Soviet Ambassador to London, M. Maisky, speaking at the first meeting of the International Youth Conference in London, said: “The first fresh breeze is beginning to blow through the heavy, tense atmosphere in which the United Nations so far have been living. Twice in six weeks Hitler has shouted ‘I will not capitulate.' Gloomy forebodings have begun to awaken in the head of the Fascist monster. “Two main facts have caused this: The first was the decisive failure of Hitler’s 1942 campaign in the east, and the other was the happenings in Egypt and North Africa.”