Wairarapa Times-Age WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18, 1943. RUSSIA AND HER ALLIES.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 August 1943, Page 2

Wairarapa Times-Age WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18, 1943. RUSSIA AND HER ALLIES.

WHATEVER the intentions of the Allies may be in regard io the timing of the opening of a land attack on Germany in Western Europe, there is something to be said for the view expressed by a Soviet spokesman, and reported in a cablegram received yesterday, that: —

The routing of the German divisions at Orel, Byelgorod and Karachev and in the batles for Kharkov has created a situation in which a serious blow from the west would greatly speed up the end of Hitlerite Germany.

Without prejudice io the fact that some people in Russia appear to take altogether insufficient account of what has been and is being done by the AVestern Allies in the war at sea and in the air, in North Africa and Sicily, the Pacific and elsewhere, it is plain enough that the present course of events in Russia is creating opportunities of which the greatest practicable use should be made by all the Allied nations. What is practicable depends on factors of war production, military preparation, supply and transport the details of which, wisely and of necessity, are in. great part hidden. The opportunity evidently is there, however, in the extent to which the means are available of turning it to account.

Precisely how seriously the German armies are menaced in the Smolensk, Bryansk and Kharkov areas, and on extensive fronts south and north of these bastions, remains to be determined. They are to all appearance falling into deeper difficulties, from which they have little hope of extricating themselves. At a minimum it is clear that there has been a tremendous reversal of fortune on the Eastern front. Over two years ago, the Germans, on the strength of Hitler’s intuition, set out to destroy the fighting power of the Soviet Union. Their efforts to that end have failed, finally and decisively. The best hope now open to them, if it is open, is that of getting back, at as low a price as they can contrive to pay, to a shorter front, on which they might be able to organise a more economical defence than on the lines they occupy at present.

]n the existing situation there is a good deal to justify the opinion long held and expressed by Soviet authorities that the decisive battle of the war on the Eastern front was fought in the autumn and early winter of 1941, when the Germans were beaten back on the outer defences of Moscow.

It was contended in a Soviet communique issued on June 22 last, the second anniversary of the Nazi attack on Russia, that “during the past year the German Army has had no military successes ... on the contrary, it suffered one defeat after another on the Soviet front and in North Africa.” This implies that the indecisive gains made by the Germans in Russia last year amounted in fact to a scries of defeats. Certainly these operations culminated in the Axis disaster at Stalingrad and that was the first of a series of disasters, of which not the least was the total failure of the only offensive the Germans ha ve thus far attempted on the Eastern front this summer. Now the initiative is in Russian hands and the enemy is not only being beaten and thrust back on fronts he had hoped to make impregnable, but possibly is being denied the opportunity of making a safe and orderly retreat. Even if such a retreat were contrived, it would amount to a dismal and disastrous confession of defeat.

Only the Allied leaders and strategists know what additional. action against Germany, in the west as well as in Mediterranean areas, is or shortly will he practicable. That a stage has been reached at- which it is desirable that the greatest possible weight of attack should be brought to bear on Germany from all quarters, in concert with Russia’s magnificent effort, is, however, self-evident.