THE SATELLITES GROW ANXIOUS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 63, 15 March 1944, Page 4

THE SATELLITES GROW ANXIOUS

S mighty and still unchecked surge forward on the southern end of Germany's Eastwall is having a quickening effect on the effoils of the satellites, who jumped on to the band wagon in the hope o quick victory and heavy loot, to get as far away from German omination as fast as they can and to obtain the best peace terms that tie Allies are prepared to offer. Finland, Bulgaria and Rumania are in the stampede, Hungary is too close to Germany to take any definite lisks, but, instead of helping the arch-conspirator with divisions for the Russian front, she is massing them on the Rumanian border in an attempt to hold a province to which she is not entitled on racial lines. At the moment Finland is in the least enviable position of all the satellites. A Russian swing forward of a few miles on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland would cut her off from any hope of further German assistance. That hope was tenuous enough when Finland first asked Russia for her terms of peace; it has vanished now. When the Finns asked for peace the Russians stated their terms and plainly indicated that they were not willing to relax any of them. The Finnish Government, however, has continued to haggle for easier conditions, but it has now received a solemn warning that no amendments will be considered and that the terms must be accepted within a few days.

During the negotiations the Finnish Government has suggested that the terms amount to unconditional surrender, in that the Russians ask lor the right to help Finland to get rid of the German divisions in the north of the country. The argument is not a strong one, for if the Germans want to get their forces away intact they have three routes of escape, and if they do not want to do this obviously it is their intention to turn Finland into a battleground on which they can impose a state of civil war by compelling the Finns in the areas which they hold to fight for them. The Finns must have peace or perish, and there is therefore no choice before them but to clean up the mess their own actions have created in the quickest possible way by accepting the Russian terms before it is too late. Marshal Stalin has only to wait long enough for unconditional surrender to become unavoidable, and in the circumstances his terms are generous. They, require no territorial concessions beyond those agreed to in the peace treaty of 1940, and they ask for no constitutional changes or no subsequent contribution to the fighting forces.

Rumania is panic-stricken by the pace of the advance towards her frontiers, and she is apparently endeavouring to placate the Soviet by the offer of the return of the provinces of Bessarabia and Bukovina, awarded to her after the last war. In return she asks for Russian help to drive the Hungarians out of Transylvania. Rumania was in a dilemma when Germany first struck, and she has had no freedom of movement since. Her Fascist-minded leaders, however, made no move to maintain neutrality, and now her people find that they are so completely. under German domination that there is "nothing left to fight for," and that their only chance of retaining their national existence is peace under the protection of the Allied Nations, v An unofficial delegate is now in Cairo to negotiate terms with Russia. He may be unofficial, but it is probable that the Government gave him facilities for his mission and it is also certain that the vast majority of the people want to get out of the war. Germany retains a firm hold on the country because of the fact that it contains the Ploesti oilfields, which are supplying her with one-third of her requirements, and she will not relax that hold until her arm is paralysed. The power of the Rumanians to organise resistance is weak, but the establishment of a Government hostile to Germany, supported by the mass of the people, by the return of all the trained divisions from Russia and by the help which the Allies could eventually offer would have an immediate effect on Germany's war effort, especially if, as is now suggested, the defensive line were taken up along the River Pruth and the oilfields thus cut off. Bulgaria is also looking for a foxhole, and her diplomats have been recalled for an urgent conference following upon the recent peace feelers. Russia has put heavy pressure upon her, and the chief threats by which Germany forced her assistance, the bombing of her cities if she failed to respond, is now working in reverse, since the Luftwaffe has proved itself incapable even of defending German cities, let alone those of the satellites. The Americans have given Sofia a brief taste of bombing's effects, and have shown the people some of the consequences of continuing to help ,the Axis. The Bulgar Government has never supported the attack on Russia, and thus can hope for terms at least as generous as those granted to Finland. The Germans have a number of divisions in the country, and they have assumed control of all the- public services, but if the Government took its courage in both hands it could make it impossible for Hitler to hold the country down— he could not spare the necessary reserves for forcible subjugation. That in turn would affect Turkey's present indifferent attitude towards the Allies, and it would also close the door to German intrigue in the East.