WEEK'S EVENTS HAVE UPLIFTED MORALE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 197, 21 August 1942, Page 5

WEEK'S EVENTS HAVE UPLIFTED MORALE

FEELING IN BRITAIN

Dieppe And Moscow Talks Are Good Omens

Special Correspondent

Rec. 11 a.m. LONDON, Aug. 20. As August slips away, heralding the approach of autumn, there is increasing evidence that the United Rations power to strike in Western Europe is mounting rapidly and increasing in momentum, but there is still doubt in many well-informed quarters whether a decisive blow can be delivered in 1942. This week has brought two of the most encouraging developments for months, firstly, there was the Moscow conference, which, despite the tantalismgly meagre details issued by the authorities and the highly colourful speculations in which some commentators indulged, remains one of the war's most important turning points. Secondly, there is the Commando raid against Dieppe—the largest and _ most ambitious raid yet attempted, in which British, American and Canadian forces fought side by side for the first time.

These events have resulted in a noticeable uplifting of public morale. The British, as New Zealanders well know, are a stoical race and are not given to wearing their hearts on their sleeves, but as month after month has dragged by without the development of the offensive against Germany, which is obviously indispensable for victory, the intense public keenness which marked the post-Dunkirk days has become blunted. The public was fully aware that action must wait on the deployment of men and machines, but it can be understood that the months of comparative inaction had induced a feeling that we were drifting. Stalin-Churchill Talks The Stalin-Churchill talks, in which President Roosevelt, although not present, fully participated through Mr. Averell Harriman, demonstrates to all who doubted that the United Nations are fighting the war on a basis of one co-ordinated strategy, even though this may not always be apparent to armchair critics. Also, the talks should finally silence insidious suggestions that the British rulers will not move because they dislike Russian politics.

The most realistic comment was that of the diplomatic correspondent of The Times, who wrote: "It was a war council conducted without any false hopes—rather with the realisation that all the Allies must fight on the Russian scale before victory could be won." That is how the conference should be viewed—as a war council preparatory to action. Brilliant Operation Dieppe was a sortie rather than a second front. It is believed to be a sample of the action that can be expected. It was "a brilliant operation, skilfully fought to a plan. Our losses were not light, but the enemy's, particularly in the air, were appreciably heavier, while the destruction of the radio location station and other installations was a severe blow for the Germans.

Viewed against the background of the terrific battles raging on the Eastern Front, the Dieppe raid was undoubtedly small fry, but such attacks, frequently staged and with increasing weight, will prove very embarrassing for the enemy and will undoubtedly pin down many divisions which Hitler would like to switch to Russia.

The effect on the British public was little short of astounding. For the first time for months men and women mobbed the newsboys, and crowds assembled around club and city office newstapes. Dieppe was the sole topic of conversation in streets, cafes and on buses everywhere.

Thus the week can be viewed as one of very considerable achievement. A plan of action has been hammered out at Moscow, while Dieppe has given freedom loving nations in earnest the shape of things to come all over Europe.