THE AXIS PLAN

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 44, 21 February 1942, Page 5

THE AXIS PLAN

NAZI-JAP. JUNCTION

STRATEGY ENVISAGED

The problem of where Germany will strike next and the conviction that the blow will be co-ordinated with the Japanese offensive are giving the highest officials here great concern, says the Washington correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald.

With the united nations' material and forces still less than those of the Axis, a correct estimate alone can make possible a proper diver3ion at endangered points.

It can be taxen for granted that the primary danger point at present is the South-western Pacific, but the feeling persists that that theatre of war can be over-insured in the face of what Hitler and General Tojo may still have in mind.

Jiink Up Through India

While an attempt to invade Britain is always a possibility, new intelligence reports indicate that the Axis Jeaders have mapped out a new plan. India is believed to have become a point of potential great peril.

It is felt that Hitler and General Tojo envisage the junction of their forces in India, with the purpose of establishing a supply line for Germany of strategic war material from areas conquered by Japan and providing assistance for Japan from Germany in the way of armaments.

This may appear to be a fantastic concept, "since it involves an uninterrupted communications line almost circling the globe, but in view of the known boldness of German and Japanese strategy for conquest of the world, there is a conviction that it must not be dismissed with the adjective "fantastic" and is something genuinely to be feared.

The belief is growing that a German spring offensive against Russia is almost a certainty. Although it is understood that British observers in Russia are inclined to the opinion that Germany has been badly punished by the Russian onslaught, American military observers in Russia are considerably more cautious.

They insist that the second phase of the Russian offensive—the penetration of the Valdai Hills (about 200 miles south of Leningrad)—was not seriously opposed by the Germans. The observers insist that the Russians' ability to penetrate considerably beyond Smolensk would alone demonstrate there has been a genuine German rout. Pincer Grip for Junction Move Successful efforts to reinforce Field-Marshal von Rommel and reported negotiations between Marshal Petain and Hitler, whereby Hitler would use French African colonies in return for restriction of German occupation of French territory to strategic points and the further release of French prisoners, is envisaged as additional evidence of Germany's intention to launch a heavy spring eastern drive in an attempt to grip the Middle East between pincers and give Germany access to both oil and Asia for a junction with the Japanese. It is thought, moreover, that Germany and Japan aim at a vast stirring-up of races in the East for the purpose of for ever making Asia untenable for Britain and America and shutting off the Asiatic seas to them. It is estimated that Germany has increased her aircraft production, including production in occupied territories, to between 2000 and 3000 aircraft a month, and Italy and Japan together have increased production to between 500 and 750 a month. Axis submarine production is estimated at from 18 to 20 a month, with 300 submarines continuously under construction. Australia's Part One important' school of thought here considers that Australia should be made the united nations' great reservoir of material and fighting forces. This would involve building up war supplies in the south-western Pacific which would absorb a large part of United States production for the next three months, in the belief that the heaviest pressure point in the world struggle will continue to be that area which can best be supplied from Australia.

It is feared, also, however, that if Japan succeeds in capturing the Netherlands East Indies and consolidating her position there, she will cease the pressure farther south— against Australia—and turn her attention north and westward to Siberia and India. This would make an Australian material and fighting force reservoir too far away, and would produce a situation from which the united nations have suffered all along—over-insurance of one theatre of war at the expense of under-insurance of another, which suddenly becomes vital.