BAD NEWS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 February 1943, Page 3

BAD NEWS

FOR ALL THE AXIS POWERS DECISION REACHED AT CASABLANCA ACTION AGAINST JAPAN PROMISED BY PRESIDENT. ROOSEVELT. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) LONDON, February 12. “The decisions at Casablanca were not confined to one theatre of war. . Before the end of the year the world will realise that the meeting produced plenty of news — bad news for the Germans, Ihe Italians, and the Japanese,’’ declared President Roosevelt in a Lincoln Day speech in Washington. “We do not expect to finally defeat Japan by inching forward island by island across the vast expanse of the Pacific,” he added., “Great and deccisive actions will be taken to drive the’ Japanese from Chinese soil, and important actions will be taken in the skies over China and over Japan itself.” Mr Roosevelt said that the notable gains in the Solomon Islands,and New Guinea demonstrated our superior air power and the superior fighting qualities of our soldiers and sailors. The Americans in the South-West Pacific were receiving powerful aid from Australia and New Zealand, and also from Britain. ..“Many roads lead right to Tokio,” the President said. “We shan’t neglect one of them. Our policy toward the Japanese as toward the Nazis is to end the war as quickly as possible.” ’ VAIN AXIS HOPES. . Applying their old tricks, the Axis propogandists were trying to divide the United Nations by seeking to create an idea that Britain and Russia and China and America would be involved in a cat and dog fight if they were victorious,in the vain hope of including one or two of the Allies to make deals at the expense of the others, he continued and commented, “The Nazis must be frantic indeed if they believe they can devise propaganda which turns the Britons, Americans and Chinese against the Russians or Russia against the rest of us.” Mr Roosevelt praised the genius with which M. Stalin and his military commanders had withstood and hurled back the invaders. He reiterated that the only terms on which the Allies would deal with any Axis Government or Axis factions are unconditional surrender, and added that this uncompromising policy was not meant to harm the common people of the Axis natioris, but was meant to impose full punishment and retribution on their guilty, barbaric leaders. NORTH AFRICAN OUTLOOK. Mr Roosevelt said that the armies were massing in North Africa for one of the major battles to drive the enemy into the sea. General Montgomery’s Eighth Army and the French forces under General Leclerc would attack from the south, while the British and Americans and General Giraud’s French would attack from the west. Mr Roosevelt expressed every confidence in General Eisenhower’s leadership, and pointed out that Mr Churchill proposed him for the supreme command of the imminent Allied operations. “The Americans in Tunisia are facing for the first time actual combat with formidable opponents,” he said. “The battle will cost us heavy casualties, -‘and we must face that fact now with the same calm courage as the men on the battlefield. “The enemy has strong positions, and his supply lines are being maintained at a great cost, which Hitler is willing to pay, knowing that the consequences of an Allied victory in Tunisia are actual invasions of the Continent. “We do not disguise our intention to make these invasions. The pressure on Germany and Italy will be constant and unrelenting. We must hit the enemy in the west like the Russians in the east, from so many directions that he will not know which is his bow and which is his stern. “IF JAPAN FALLS FIRST.” “If Japan falls first, the total efforts and resources of all the Unted Natons will be concentrated on crushing Germany. On the other hand, lest the Axis doubts that we are wholly one in the prosecution of the war to complete victory throughout the world, Mr Churchill wished to make a formal agreement, that the British Empire would join America and China in an out-and-out final attack against Japan if Germany fell first. “I told him that no formal statement or agreement was the least bit necessary, that the American people would accept the word of a great English gentleman, and that it was obvious that we all were determined to destroy the forces of barbarism in Asia, Europe and Africa.” The Associated Press says that after the speech Mr Roosevelt went into conference with his Chiefs of Staff, including Admiral Leahy, General Marshall and Admiral King. The topic of the conference was not disclosed. The Commanding General of the United States Army Air Forces, Lieu-tenant-General Arnold, recently went to the Middle East for further talks with military and Government leaders. With him were Lieutenant-General Sommerville, chief of the American Army Supply Service, and General I Eisenhower's Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Major-General Spaatz,