PRIDE OF PLACE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 January 1943, Page 4

PRIDE OF PLACE

GIVEN TO ACHIEVEMENT i OF RUSSIANS IN GREAT IMPROVEMENT IN WAR OUTLOOK. BRITISH DEPUTY-PREMIER’S SURVEY. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, January 19. In his statement in the House of Commons on the war situation, Mr Attlee, Deputy Prime Minister, said that though during the two months since. Mr Churchill’s full statement on Armistice Day there had been nothing so dramatically unexpected as the landing in North Africa, they could view the close of 1942 with sober satisfaction and look forward to 1943 with justifiable confidence. The striking contrast between the fourth January of the war and its predecessors was that everywhere the initative had passed into the hands of the United Nations. Pride of place should be given to the wonderful achievement of the Russian armies. Their remarkable feat, maintained on a long front to a depth sometimes of 180 miles in winter, would surely take its place in history as an . outstanding achievement. “I has often been heard that the Russians are very good fighters, very brave, but no good at organisation and incapable of staff work,” Mr Attlee said. “What absolute nonsense that proved tobe! Everyone, recalling the immense; amount of preparatory work required-*! to stage a great offensive realises what lay behind these great victories.” NORTH AFRICAN CAMPAIGN. Referring to North Africa, Mr Attlee said that there had been criticism of the pause in operations to drive the Axis from Libya, but that Rommel’s record of retreat had begun again. There was a certain strategy in the warfare in those areas. “The spring is coiled, the blow is struck, and the spring must be recoiled before the next blow is passible. On Friday General Montgomery struck again. We cannot tell where Rommel will elect to stand,” Mr Attlee added. “Our objective is the total destruction of the enemy in North Africa. The time will come when there is nowhere further for him to go.” Mr Attlee also paid a tribute to the Fighting French "forces under General Leclerc. The lull in Tunisia had naturally caused disappointment, but the House should recall three things: First, the great distances; secondly, the weather, which made movement practically impossible for tanks and wheeled vehicles; thirdly, the serious defect in the provision of airfields and thus in the effectiveness of the Allies’ air forces. Also, the enemy had very short communications ,and those of the Allies were very long. They had every confidence in General Eisenhower and the men of the Allied forces. The French civil authorities were cooperating fully with the Allied forces and the French workers alongside the Allies. RELATIONS WITH FRENCH. “There has been discussion, more in the American Press than ours, of alleged differences of opinion about the French,” he said. “It is understandable that the French should not appear to us in the same light as to the Americans. We were nearer the crisis of 1940, which presented a mortal danger to us before the Americans came into the war.” Britain fully appreciated the advantage of maintenance by the United States of relations with the Government of Marshal Petain. They recognised that the contacts established there were an advantage while they lasted, and bore fruit at the time of the operations. The political preparations in Algeria and Morocco were a very important part of the operations and contributed to rapid success. Mr Attlee added that a spirit of the greatest harmony continued among the British and American members of General Eisenhower’s joint staff, which was a good augury for future operations. In the political field the two Governments had a single objective—to promote the unity of all Frenchmen in the war against the Axis' for the liberation of France, and to help towards this Mr MacMillan had been appointed Resident Minister at Allied Headquarters. “We welcome the appointment of General Giraud as High Commissioner and are glad that the British forces are associated in comradeship with the French forces under his command,” he said. “We owe a great debt to General de Gaulle for his bold and uncompromising assertion of French resistance, and look forward to the day, and shall do our best to assist it, when the whole French Empire, steadfast and united round a single authority on French soil, can join the United Nations in the common effort to break down the power of the enemy and achieve the liberation of France.” POSITION IN PACIFIC. Mr Attlee noted other encouraging things in “this far-flung theatre of war.” He said, “We should be wrong to minimise the dangers that still exist in the Far East. We have got a very determined and highly skilful enemy, but can surely see a great difference in the position since a year ago.” Replying to the members who asked about the reported accumulation of Japanese forces near New Guinea, Mr Attlee said: “We are conscious that there are forces at Rabaul, but the United Nations are taking every step to deal with the menace.” It was with that accumulation of forces in mind that he had said there were dangers in the Far East.

Speaking of the recent Berlin raids, he said: “We shall continue to press on these attacks, concentrated on those targets which are most effective in bringing the enemy down.” Concluding, Mr Attlee said it was the resolve of the Government, in the closest co-operation with all the Allies, to strike the enemy by land, sea and air everywhere with the utmost vigour and determination.