MILESTONES OF WAR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 November 1943, Page 4

MILESTONES OF WAR

■called BY MR CHURCHILL ■ PLEDGES & STATEMENTS ■ THAT STAND ■ SURVEY OF OUTLOOK TODAY fl (British Official Wireless.) fl (Received This Day, Noon.) ■ RUGBY, November 9. ■ The Prime Minister (Mr Churchfl ill), speaking at the Lord Mayor’s fl Festival in London, said it was the I fourth such festival he had attendI ed since the outbreak of war and ■ they all seemed to have been mileI stones- on the journey. In Novem- ■ ber, 1940, when Britain was quite I alone in the midst of the blitz, he fl took occasion to repeat to all naI tions overrun by the Germans a I British pledge and guarantee that I the struggle would never be abanI doned until every one of them had I been liberated from the Nazi yoke. I He saw no reason to modify that I statement today. I In 1941, he gave a solemn warning Ito the . Japanese Government that if ■they went to war with the United ■States, Britain would immediately declare war on them as well. There was nothing wrong with that. (Laughter). Last year he had thought it right to say he did not consider it any part of his duties to liquidate the British Empire and he did not conceal that he held the same view today. Since the last Lord Mayor's Festival, Britain and her Allies had had a year of almost unbroken victory in every theatre and bn every front. British, Dominions and United States armies had cleared Africa of the enemy. Together British and United States forces had conquered Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica and onethird of Italy. They had broken the back of the U-boat wai’, which once seemed their greatest peril. They had inflicted shattering damage and were still doing so upon German cities which were centres'of munition production. That had caused an injury to the German war effort and to German morale which, combined with other blows, might well be the precursor of decisive events for the Allied countries. In all these operations, on land and sea and in the air, Britain' had had the honour to ’bear the largest part and pay the heaviest price. PACIFIC CAMPAIGN In the Pacific, where the main forces of the United States had been deployed, and where Americans, Australians and New Zealanders were fighting together under the inspiring leadership of General MacArthur, many brilliant actions had been recorded and the strength of Japan was being steadily and remorselessly whittled down. But he frankly admitted, and indeed proclaimed, that the outstanding event had been the victorious advance of the Russian armies from the Volga westwards across the Dnieper, liberating, as Marshal Stalin had said, two-thirds of the Russian soil from a foul invader. In that process the Russian armies had inflicted deep and dire injury upon the whole life and structure of the German military machine. That monstrous juggernaut engine of German might and tyranny had been beaten, broken, outfought and outmanoeuvred by Russian valour, generalship and science, and it had been beaten to an extent which might well prove mortal. Britain and her American allies had done and were doing their best to bring their forces across the seas and oceans into action against the enemy and he rated the Anglo-American air. attacks on Germany as one of the prime reasons for the impending ruin of Hitler's regime, but it must never be forgotten that there was nowhere in the whole world, nor could there have been created for several years, any military organisation which could either have given the blows Russia had given, or survived the losses Russia had suffered. From the City of London they saluted the Soviet Army and Marshal Stalin. SUCCESS IN MOSCOW They would all be cheered by the results of the Moscow conference and looked forward to welcoming back Mr Eden in the next week or so from his most successful mission there. No doubt the full and frank discussions between the three Foreign Ministers had had the effect of making our Russian friends feel, as they had never felt before, that it was the heartfelt wish of the British and American peoples to work in loyal alliance on a basis of mutual respect and faithful companionship in the resettlement and rebuilding of a distracted and tormented world. ’ Mr Churchill said he had not abandoned the hope that at some time or other it might be possible for the heads of the three Governments to meet together, because all his experience in this war showed that friendly and trustful personal contacts between responsible leaders were the best foundations for all plans, whether for war or peace.. In the grand alliance of the 33 States or governments constituting the United Nations, they tried all they could, by correspondence and consultations, to preserve harmony and intimacy, and to procure concerted action. As might well be imagined, it was not possible to consult with every member about the details of all military movements or nlans. The high aims they had before" them were as outlined in the Atlantic Charter, and now there had been published in Moscow the all-im-portant Four-Power Agreements which looked to the foundation of world peace after the storms were over. There were many nations in their thoughts today. They hoped that France would rise again to her true greatness and would play a worthy part in shaping the progress of Europe and the world. He rejoiced with every increase of unity among the heads that were united in the French National Committee at Algiers, and he also rejoiced at the growing power of the French armies which were being recreated and rearmed in North Africa, and which would presently take their share in the liberation of the oppressed countries. He described the French National Committee as not the owners, but the trustees of the title deeds to France, which must be restored to the French nation .when freedom had been achieved, as it was only under conditions of freedom and tranquility that any permanent structure could be raised. A great many people in Europe talked as if the end of the war were near. He honed indeed they might be proved right, but certainly every month that the devastating struggle continued carried human society into greater depths. UNABATED EFFORT VITAL Mr Churchill said they would be foolish and blameworthy if they allowed their plans for action to be based on prospects of an early collapse in Germany. There was danger in anything

which diverted the thoughts and efforts of any of the Allied nations from the supreme task which lay ahead—the task of beating down in dust and ruin the deadly fiends and pirates who had nearly subjugated the entire world. The campaign of 1944 in Europe would be the most severe, and for the Western Allies the most costly in lives, of any they had fought, and they must all brace themselves and strain every nerve for successful accomplishment. There was no time for relaxation of effort and idle thoughts on the joys of peace, for Hitler still had 400 divisions under his command and he had a police force which gave him a grip on his people incomparably stronger than anything at the disposal of the late Kaiser. Hitler and his guilty confederates knew that their lives were at stake, and that they did not run any extra risk in making other people fight on to the bitter end. The German troops, wherever they had been met, had fought with all their skill and the hazards of great battles lay before the Allies.' They could not, however, exclude the possibility of a new form of attack upon Britain. A vigilant watch had been kept for months past and if attacks came they would certainly call for the utmost efficiency and devotion to duty of fire watchers and the Home Guard and for a further display of the firmness and fortitude for which the British nation had won renown. This was not a time to relax any precautions, or to hinder the effort by raising party political issues. It was no time, when there was war work to do, to dream easy dreams of brave new worlds—they must keep their sense of proportion and must not lose for a moment the consciousness of urgency. In every minute granted them they must go forward with unrelenting vigour.