Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 1943. GERMAN MORALE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 63, Issue 271, 26 August 1943, Page 2

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 1943. GERMAN MORALE.

The announcement from Quebec that the necessary decisions have been taken to provide for the forward actions of the fleets, armies and air forces of the British Commonwealth and the United States marks an iimportant step in. the prosecution of the war. The duration of the conflict will depend largely upon the morale of the German people. The majority of those who have had opportunities of judging Germany during the war insist that nothing but military defeat is likely to sap German morale sufficiently to destroy the general will to continue the struggle. Reduced standards of living, increasing regimentation, huge casualty lists, intensive bombing from the air—all these things, they say, foster discontent, inspire continual grumbling, cause widespread gloom, but are not enough in themselves to cause that collapse of morale which led to surrender in 1918. The war, in short, can be won neither in the air nor on the sea, but only on the battlefields of Europe. If British and American povver is to be brought effectively to bear, Europe must be invaded. There is no question of that being a cardinal point in Allied grand strategy. Enough has been said officially about the promise underlying the complete success of the campaign in North Africa to prove it. The position resolves itself, therefore, into that of breaking in the front door—which means, presumably the occupied coast sopiewhere between the North Cape and the Pyrenees—or of using Africa and Sicily as a starting point for an attempt on the back door, which might be one qf a number of points on the Mediterranean or Aegean shores. There is a belief, so far limited in expression, that the utter defeat of one Axis ally would deal a devastating blow to German morale. Whether that view is accepted in the epuncils of the United Nations or not, there is litle doubt that there is a probing for soil spots in the Mediterranean. The indirect approach Ao the heart pf Axis power, Germany herself, is a card sure to be played in that search for the means of reaching the desired end, an Axis collapse in Europe—the forerunner of a concentration of strength agamst Japan. _