STAGES TO VICTORY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 November 1942, Page 3

STAGES TO VICTORY

SURVEYED BY THE BRITISH PRIME MINISTER

Importance of North African Successes

WARM TRIBUTE PAID TO RUSSIA

WAR MAY END IN EUROPE SOONER THAN IN PACIFIC

LONDON, November 29

Two Sundays ago, said the British Prime Minister (Mr Winston Churchill), the bells were ringing to celebrate the victory of the desert armies at El Alamein. The ringing was one of thanksgiving, as in spite of all Britain’s errors and shortcomings the Allies had been brought nearer to the frontiers of the enemy. After referring to events during the past three years of war, to the dangers Britain had escaped, and to her achievements, in which she had played a part in saving the freedom and the future of the world, Mr Churchill said that since the bells were rung, the Eighth Army had advanced nearly 400 miles and had driven before it the remnants of the powerful forces which Rommel boasted, and Hitler and Mussolini believed, would conquer Egypt. Another big battle might be impending at the entrance to Tunisia. Mr Churchill said he made it a rule not to prophesy about battles before they were fought. Everyone must remember the immense distances over -which the North African war raged and the enormous labour and self-devotion of the troops engaged, but they could have the greatest confidence in Generals Alexander and Montgomery and in the soldiers and airmen who had at last been able to come into their own.

HAZARDS OVERCOME On the other side of Africa, said Mr Churchill, there was the tremendous joint undertaking of United. States and British forces, which was fraught with so many hazards. It had also been carried out with astonishing success, in the face of many dangers and in spite of U-boats. It was rendered possible only by one sound fact, by the complete understanding between the British and American staffs and troops. The whole undertaking was under the direction of and the responsibility 01 the President of the United States and the First British Army was serving under the orders of the American Commander-in-Chief, General Eisenhower. Behind all was the power of the Royal Navy and a large part of the American Fleet. The whole of the naval units were under the command of Admiral Cunningham, but subordinated to the Allied Commander-in-Chief. Not only were the U-boats evaded and brushed aside, but they were definitely defeated in ten days of conflict, inside and outside the Mediterranean. Many scores of ships were continuously exposed and large numbers of Üboats were- concentrated from all quarters. Allied destroyers, corvettes and aircraft guarded the convoys. For every transport or supply ship lost, a U-boat was sunk or severely damaged and for every ton of Allied shipping lost so far, two tons of shipping haa been gained from ships recovered in French North African ports. General Alexander had timed his battle al El Alamein to suit exactly the Allied operations in North Africa. The First British Army was striking hard at the last foothold of the Germans and Italians in Tunisia, where American, British and French troops ■were pushing forward side by side. Mi Churchill said he would go so far as to say that he expected the enemy to be expelled before long from Africa. AXIS AIR POWER FAILING Mr Churchill' said anyone could sec the importance of reopening the Mediterranean for Allied shipping, which would save the long voyage round Africa. Another advantage of possessing the North African coast was that it opened up air battles on a new front. In order to shatter the sinking power of the enemy it was their duty to engage the enemy in the air continuously, on the largest scale and at the highest intensity. Already the German air force was a wasting asset —new construction was not keeping pace with losses and the front-line strength was weakening in numbers as well as in quality. The British, American and Russian air forces were already far larger and were growing steadilv and rapidly. All that was needed was a more frequent opportunity of conflict and Allied control of the African Mediterranean shore would give that extra opportunity. A WORD TO ITALY The opening up of French North Africa would bring the war home to the Italian Fascist State, Mr Churchill continued, in a manner which hitherto the Axis leaders had never dreamed to be possible. Already the centres of war industry in Northern Italy were being subjected to harder (treatment than any British city experienced in the winter of 1940 and .other military objectives would be brought under scientific and shattering air attack. It was for the Italian peo-j pie to show whether they wanted these terrible things to happen. One man and one man alone was responsible for Italy's entry into the war, said Mr Churchill, when referring to the way in which Italy stabbed France in the back. Whatever Italy had experienced so far was only a beginning—-the ruins of Genoa, Turin and Milan were only a foretaste. RUSSIA’S ACHIEVEMENT Passing on to events on the Russian front, Mr Churchill said that, all through the grim struggle one wondered at the way in which the Russians had been able to conserve their strength. He referred also to the invincible defenders of Stalingrad and to the Russian power of counter-attacks. The German armies were facing another Russian winter—commanded and led not by the German General Staff but by Corporal Hitler himself. Referring to events in France, Mr Churchill said that when the Allies planned the North African operation it'was foreseen that such a. move would bring about an immediate reaction in France. He said he had never had any doubt that Hitler would break the armistice and would try to capture the French fleet at Toulon. The last cloak of deception had fallen from the French people and from the flames and smoke of the explosions at Toulon the French people would rise again. NEED OF UNRELAXING EFFORT Staling that the British people had stood Ion" periods of inaction and adverse news, Mr Churchill said he saw no reason why they should not face the victory, but they must not relax their effort in any way. It had to be remembered that Hitler's armies and secret police held nearly all Europe in their grin, that he had millions of slaves to toil for him and that, he had many mightly arsenals; Goering

bragged that it would not be Germans who would starve. It had to be remembered that it . was only a small proportion of the Germany army that the British had been able so far to engage and destroy. The U-boat was a danger that might be worse before it was better.

As to the future, Mr Churchill observed, speaking with an acute consciousness of responsibility to his Government, it might well be that the war in Europe would come to an end before the war in Asia. While the Pacific hurricane rose to its true pitch, if events should take such a course, Britain would send her forces to the other side of the world to the aid of the United States, China, and her kith and kin in Australia and New Zealand in their valiant stand against the aggression of Japan. While thus engaged in the Far East, Britain would be sitting with the United Nations at a conference to devise ways to enable free life to rise again in Europe. The fact that some of these nations would still be fighting together in the East would make, he thought, for a better understanding at the conference table.