LEST WE REMEMBER

New Zealand Listener, Volume 7, Issue 165, 21 August 1942, Page 4

LEST WE REMEMBER

Some Things That Are Best Forgotten IN a very few days the war will have lasted three years. No one knows how much longer it will last, or what it may yet bring u$ in humiliation. But we all know, if we dare to remember, how many foolish hopes we have indulged in the past and how often we have been made to eat our words. It is easy to be wise after the event, but it will perhaps help us to be more realistic if we recall some of the fantastic and contradictory things said since the struggle began-said by everybody, the professional optimists, as well as the chronic pessimists; the newspapers of the Left as well as those of the Right; the bright journals of America as well as the earnest weeklies of Great Britain.

On Two Fronts? ORNERED and ‘desperate, Hitler is now fighting on two fronts — along the Siegfried Zone and inside Nazidom itself. Many of his lieutenants view the Fuhrer’s "sale" of the Baltic and the Balkans to Josef Stalin as an act of betrayal.-"News Review," Oct. 12, 1939. India Declares "War" REALISING what the Mahatma’s good will means, Lord Linlithgow lost no time in cordially inviting the aged Indian boss to talk over "co-operation." Mr. Gandhi, no longer the flaming revolutionary of yore, obviously would have liked to’ oblige his British friends. Plagued with the vision of a_ possible bloody revolution in India should the British be forced to leave (and there is nothing he abhors more than blood), the Mahatma has of late become one of Britain’s staunchest friends. But he was on a spot, for if he came out flatly for war support, his smart Leftist opponents would seize the opportunity of a lifetime and probably dethrone him as the throneless leader of India’s millions — "Time," Oct. 16, 1939. "Caught on the Hop" ‘THERE was to have been a rapid German campaign on the Western Front, just as in 1914, which would catch the British Army on the hop. The safe arrival in France last month of the British Expeditionary Force absolutely wrecked that scheme.-" News Review," Nov. 9, 1939. The Imaginary Line ‘THE French High Command, normally taciturn, last week authorised an extended commentary which contained both a major boast and a major threat. It said;

"Our work of fortification, carried out-from the start (of war) at an accelerated pace, is now virtually complete. The essential purpose of this work was, in a sense, to double the Maginot Line. Thus, in the north of France and in the Jura (Swiss border) there has been constructed a line of defence that may well be described as formidable. "From the first of this month our new line of fortifications seems to have removed any hope the enemy may have entertained either of crossing or flanking the Maginot Line."-" Time," Dec. 18, 1939. Europe’s New Wall O those intelligent observers of the European scene who are asking whether Adolf Hitler and his partner in the Kremlin will turn to Scandinavia or to the Balkans next, a startling piece of information can now be made available. A new safety wall has been secretly built in the Balkans by Carol von Hohenzollern, King of Rumania. It represents the greatest check to Nazi or Soviet aspirations in South-east Europe which Hitler and Stalin have yet suffered.- "News Review," Jan. 18, 1940. Spring Strategy, 1940 |F any outline of the Allied Supreme War Council’s spring strategy (for 1940) could be drawn last week, it was this: to continue holding Germany in a vice by land and sea; to help Finland resist Russia in the north; to make that Tesistance stronger, and at the same time tighten the vice-grip on Germany, by * formidably " threatening Russia on the south-east.-* Time," Feb. 19, 1940, The Impregnable Rock [IN the first place, Britain and France cement their Alliance and convert it into a solidarity without precedent.

Whether against Nazi intrigue or surreptitious defeatism they stand like a rock, one and indivisible. They not only fight together to the end. This time, unlike last, they will stand together in peace for as long as may be needed to maintain their mutual security beyond doubt or hazard until a new order of peace and settlement in the world is not only proclaimed on paper but established with certainty in fact on the basis of concrete and impregnable guarantees.- " Observer,’ Mar. 31, 1940. "Cornered" Nazis ‘THE whole French press agreed with Premier Reynaud and Winston Churchill that Germany handicapped rather than helped herself economically by seizing Denmark and :nvading Norway. As M. Reynaud put it to the unanimously applauding Senate: "Once it has devoured its ephemeral booty, Germany can no longer be replenished by way of Denmark and Norway; those two windows looking on to# the North are henceforth closed." The French believed the nerves of Nazi statesmen had cracked, plunging the Reich into a course of naval and military recklessness. "’They reverse their policy of not extending the conflict and extend it precisely into the field where we are immensely superior-into the sea- because they know ‘they are cornered," exulted Premier Reynaud."Time," April 22, 1940. All About Hong Kong SIR GEOFFRY ALEXANDER STAFFORD NORTHCOTE, Governor of Hong Kong, rules over a fortress which in the last couple of years has been made as proof as possible against attack

by sea, land, or air. The famous Peak, towering 1,810 feet above the 11-mile-long island, is stiff with big guns, antiaircraft batteries and searchlight posts. It is well supplied with aircraft, makes its own munitions, and possesses an enviable supply of tanks. Its military forces, besides strong regular forces from the homeland and India, are augmented by all able-bodied Britons who are conscripted up to the age of 46. The narrow waters are mined with great thoroughness.-" News Review," July 4, 1940. Apes on the Rock LMOST as famous as the Rock of Gibraltar itself are the seven Barbary Apes which sit on it and scratch contentedly for fleas under the protection of the British Flag. Tradition has it that when these hoary simians disappear from the Rock, British rule will follow them, The Colonial Office, however, has no intention of allowing Betty, Venus, Phyllis, Jubilee, Wolf, Happy and Scott to fade away like old soldiers, and 35/- a month has been set aside for feeding them, Should they diminish in number, the Colonial Secretary must traditionally order the importation of substitutes."News Review," July 25, 1940. (Continued on next page)

(Continued from previous page) Roosevelt's "Retirement" IRCLES close to the White House assert that even if Franklin Roosevelt is re-elected for a third term, he will retire within six months. He will nominate as his successor Henry A. Wallace, candidate for the Vice-Presidency and at present Agriculture Secretary.- " News Review," Sept. 12, 1940. Laval’s "Downfall" MUSSOLINI'S downfall was Laval’s death-knell. All the oily ex-Com-munist’s subtle, sinister plans for playing off the Italians against the Germans collapsed when the Duce’s prestige began to. flag. Baffled, Laval attempted an alternative scheme of undermining the Petain administration so as to ingratiate himself with the Fuhrer. Petain found him out, and gave him the sack. — "News Review,’ Dec. 26, 1940, Wavell and Graziani T one fell swoop he has flung the Italian army out of Egypt and delivered the Nile Valley from the shadow of invasion. Instead, Wavell, and his empire-army are invading Libya, and they look likely to strike deep after the necessary pause for complete re-organisa-tion and replenished supply. — " Observer," Jan. 5, 1941. The Turning Point? T is too soon to say that the Axis " Powers are losing, but it is not too soon to predict that the turning-point has been seen. Britain’s successes in Egypt and Libya, and Greece’s in Albania, have heartened the Turks and have very greatly impressed the Kremlin. Now that the myth of Axis invincibility has been shattered, old Marshal Pétain of Vichy is beginning to feel in his bones that he had better not surrender completely to the Nazis, — "News Review," Jan. 30, 1941, Russia’s Strength SOME Military attachés at Moscow put Russia’s air strength at about 20,000 and the number of its medium tanks at 15,000. In any case, most experts are agreed that they are poor in quality and could not stand up to a gruelling fast-fought war.- News Review," Feb. 20, 1941. Hitler’s "Nightmare" OR a frontal challenge is not lightly to be addressed to Belgrade. At present the Yugoslav army is in a yery formidable position. In combination with

the Greeks it could crush the Italians in Albania and sweep them out of the Balkans. Yugoslav resistance to the Axis would bring Turkey into .the field. Hitler would be involved in the war on two fronts that he has used all his scheming to avoid. -‘" Observer,’ Mar. 30, 1941, Russia’s Chances OW long would the Russians last? Almost no one except the Russians was convinced that they could trounce the Germans. But if the Russians could . .. prolong the war into one more winter, then they might give the Battle of Russia a glory commensurate with its size, What were the chances of their doing this? The Russian chances of holding out indefinitely were conditioned by timing, by geography, by the quantity and quality of the opposing armies, by the quality of the opposing leaders. On these grounds their chances were not too bright.-* Time," June 30, 1941. "Beginning to Crack" [Tt begins to look as though the mechanical monster of Nazi aggression is going to betray its masters. Indicative of a crack in the Hitler organisation itself were Rudolf Hess’s flight to Scotland and Goering’s clash with the Fuhrer. Last week these portents were followed by dramatic whispers that Hermann Goering had been displaced as head of the Luftwaffe by a "more reliable Nazi "’-Field-Marshal Erhardt Milch, who has Jewish blood."News Review," Aug. 7, 1941. Moonshine Over Burma AST week General Wavell took over his extraordinary command. His own imperturbable ability and courage create confidence and inspire men. He has his headquarters in the Netherlands Indies. With him are his American colleagues, General Brett and Admiral Hart. What are his assets? The Dutch, like the Australians, are a tower of strength, Java, with forty million people and powerful bases, is a citadel and arsenal as well as a treasure house of natural wealth. In Burma the well-equipped Chineze auxiliaries are a tough addition to still growing military resources which are formidable already both for defence and attack.-" Observer," Jan. 18, 1942. More About Russia O-DAY those visions are extinguished. For nearly two months now we have watched the prodigious revival of Russia

and the destruction of Nazi hopes. Premier Stalin has emerged as a mightier man of brain and action than Hitler. His belief that Russia will shatter Germany by the end of this year is not out of proportion to the marvels of recovery and advance that have been achieved from end to end of Russia under Stalin’s inspiration and direction. — " Observer," Feb. 1, 1942, Spring "Drive" Doubts ITH the remorseless Russian victories smashing, biting, worrying the supposedly impregnable German fortified lines all the way from south of Leningrad to south of Kharkov, the chiefs of Anglo-American strategy were asking themselves in Washington last week whether it was now certain that Hitler would be able to stage his spring drive for the Caucasus-and through Iran towards the Indian border. Because of Russia’s victories, betting has begun to move slightly in favour of the possibility that he may try to make the attempt not through Russia at all, but farther south — perhaps through Turkey, perhaps with his gliders performing a huge feat of air transport by direct attack upon Egypt.-" News Review," Mar. 5, 1942. In India [IN the history of India a year or even a generation is a very short lapse of time. But in such days as those through which we are passing, in the midst of such calamities as those which have fallen on other parts of our Asiatic Empire, a year may be long enough to show Hindu and Moslem alike the need for unity as the price of salvation,. and for victory as the ground of freedomthe freedom which we have offered, and the victory which we have invited them to share.-" Observer," April 19, 1942. "Cheerful Confidence" FTER a period of continuous reverses which caused much searching of heart, the country is once more floating on a wave of cheerful confidence about the progress of the war. There is some ground to justify this mood. The battles of Kharkov and of Libya seem to prove that at last the German Army is meeting an equipment and a trained fighting power equal to its own. The Japanese have shown no sign of pushing farther outward, though they are using the isolation of China to drive their tentacles still farther into her long-enduring frame. -" Observer," June 7, 1942,