Wairarapa Times-Age WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1943. AN OVERTURE TO VICTORY.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 December 1943, Page 2

Wairarapa Times-Age WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1943. AN OVERTURE TO VICTORY.

JN its meaning and effect the the declaration issued aft the conclusion of the Three Power Conference in Teheran stands out as unsurpassed in importance by any that has ever! been made in the name of men and nations. Lt, is in( the first place an intimation that complete agreement has been reached as to the scope and timing of operations which will'be undertaken “from the east, from the west and from the south” for the destruction of the German forces. Just what exercise of force will be needed to achieve that result and what time will be occupied in achieving it remain to be determined, but after years of valiant effort and tragic sacrifice the Allies are fairly in a position to affirm that: “No power on earth can prevent us from destroying the German armies by land, the U-boats by sea, and the warplanes by air. Our attacks will be relentless and increasing.”

Throughout the world —even by Germans save those who are blinded by perverted criminality or gulled by propaganda—it will be recognised that this is a practical statement of implacable purpose which the Allies have demonstrated their ability to carry into effect. Looking only at the tasks of Avar to be undertaken, it is clear that the nations represented at Teheran are strengthened immensely by the concord established and confirmed at a gathering that Avill be memorable in history.

It is possible and indeed probable that the responsible leaders of the Allied nations have never been divided on questions of grand strategy to the extent that has been indicated, at times, in newspaper and other public discussion, in the several countries, of the “second front” and other controversial details. Now, however all questions of this kind have been settled by the three Allied leaders and their military advisers. Nothing less than that is imjilied in the announcement that complete agreement has been reached as to the scope and timing of operations for the destruction of the German forces.

Working to a single, co-ordinated military plan, the Allied evidently will be Avell placed to make their weight tell with maximum effect against the common enemy. They are further and greatly strengthened, however, in the fact that they are united in allegiance to ideals of human progress as well as in the most formidable military pact the world has ever seen. The Allied leaders at Teheran declared their determination “that our nations shall work together in the Avar and in the peace that follows” and the aims they have set before them are defined broadly in the following passage of the declaration :—

We look from these conferences with confidence to the day when all the peoples of the world may live free lives, untouched by tyranny, and according to their varying desires and their own consciences.

It would be foolishly optimistic to jump to the conclusion that this affirmation means that an international political millennium will open on the earth as soon as Nazi Germany and her partners in crime have been overthrown. It is much to the good, however, that the representatives of the three most powerful nations in the world have declared, on behalf of, these nations, their adhesion to principles of liberty and of toleration as between nation and nation. This should mean at least that the right beginning will be made upon the task of working out a betterworld order. It should mean, too, that a new impetus will be given to revolt against the bestiality of totalitarian gangsterdom in every land to which its vile sway has been extended, and perhaps even in- the countries in which it has been nurtured.