SEVENTH YEAR OF WAR

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21209, 4 September 1940, Page 6

SEVENTH YEAR OF WAR

Although the world has Just been “celebrating” the anniversary of the outbreak of the present war, there is much truth in Mr L. S. Amery’s statement that this war, Hitler’s war, was begun by Hitler seven years ago. That is a fact of great significance in any discussion of the conflict. Very early in his infamous career Hitler must have known that he was going to plunge Europe into an orgy of blood and suffering. Every stage of his rise from the gutter has marked that intention unmistakably. By constant hammering he convinced the gullible German people that war was a virtue and an end in itsqjf, and he led them step by step to the edge of the precipice with the conscious intention of wreaking his vengeance on an unsympathetic world. Mr Amery was speaking, or attempting to speak, to the German nation. It can only be hoped that his voice penetrated some of the chinks in the protective wall round the German public. His words were propaganda, but they were loaded with truths of fundamental importance that lifted them far above the plane of ordinary selfish publicity. Time in its impartiality will give his statements their true significance, and even the Germans will one day realise that what he said was true. In nine cases out of ten German listeners would simply charge him with boasting, but it can be hoped the odd one will be caused to think and to pass on his thoughts to other hoodwinked Germans.

Mr Amery told of the war conceived and engineered by Hitler, of his crushing of many nations of western Europe and of his scheming to bring Britain to her knees. He told Germans that Hitler had promised them a short war, but that they had already endured one fierce winter and were now facing another. “For Britain,” he said, “this war is only just beginning.” If Germans heard him they must have been impressed with his picture of a far-flung Empire just beginning to realise its strength and to pour its almost unlimited resources into a gigantic war effort. Hfs story might now raise only a sneer from the German High Command, but it was truth nevertheless, and even the haughty war lords will one day realise it. Britons themselves might well take stock of the position outlined by Mr Amery and resolve afresh that in concert with their friends at home and abroad they shall ensure that the British Minister is not proved a false prophet.