RED ARMY AIMS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 February 1943, Page 3

RED ARMY AIMS

M. STALIN’S ORDER SUGGESTION REFUTED. COMMENT BY ROOSEVELT. (By Telesranh—Press Association.) WASHINGTON, February 23. At a Press conference which was held by President Roosevelt today a reporter suggested that M. Stalin’s order of the day indicated that the Soviet Army would cease fighting when the Germans were driven from Russian territory. Mr Roosevelt responded quickly that M. Stalin had not said that, and cautioned against such an interpretation. Asked to comment on a magazine article alleging that Messrs Roosevelt and Churchill, during their conference in January, 1942, promised Ambassador Litvinov that a second front would be opened in Europe in 1942, the President replied that agreement had been reached on a second front, which was subsequently started at Algiers and Casablanca. The Washington correspondent of the “New York Times” says that a discussion has been instigated by reports which are circulating in Washington that M. Stalin intends to come to terms with Germany after the Red Army has reached certain points in its advance, and also that M. Litvinov will soon be recalled from Washington to Russia as a protest against the absence of a second front in Europe and dissatisfaction over the lendlease aid. The latter report, says the correspondent, has lacked confirmation in the State Department and the Soviet Embassy. Mr Roosevelt today refused to comment on whether Archbishop Spellman is carrying a Presidential message to the Vatican, and he declared that the archbishop was visiting army and navy units in his capacity of chaplain bishop. (The relevant parts of M. Stalin’s order of the day to the Red Army were: “The mass expulsion of the enemy from the Soviet lands has begun. . . . The Red Army’s aim is not only to liberate the Soviet land but also not to allow the enemy out of our country alive. . . . The whole Soviet people rejoice in the Red Army’s victories, but we must all firmly remember the precepts of our teacher, Lenin: ‘First, not to be carried away by victory and not to boast. Secondly, to consolidate the victory. Thirdly, to defeat the enemy completely.’ In the name of the liberation of our country from the hated enemy and in the name of final victory I order: First, perfection of military training (etc).”)