BRITAIN IS REALISTIC ABOUT PACIFIC WAR

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 88, 14 April 1945, Page 4

BRITAIN IS REALISTIC ABOUT PACIFIC WAR

A Review from TREVOR SMITH

LONDON, April 12..j EVEN before the Soviet's denunciation last week of the Russo-Jap-anese neutrality pact and the latest Japanese Cabinet reshuffle, some people here were timing the end of the Pacific war at three months after the end of the war in Europe. I said that this surprised me, in view of warnings by official spokesmen and war correspondents in the Pacific that the Japanese will continue a maniacal, last-ditch struggle which will involve the Allies in a long fight and the loss of much more blood and treasure. The cryptic reply I got was: "Perhaps we know more than we thus far care to tell at present." I can add only that Mr. Churchill in all his Pacific war forecasts has not been very far wrong—and Mr. Churchill has warned us to expect a long, hard war in the Pacific. As for the end of the European war, they are now putting it at the middle of May. End of War Short of formal capitulation, which nobody expects, and regardless of whether the Nazi generals liquidate Hitler, the European war is likely to end thus: The Big Three will determine the actual day and hour, which will be signalled by simultaneous proclamations by the King to London, for the British Empire, Marshal Stalin to Moscow, and President Roosevelt to Washington. This proclamation will announce: That a state of hostilities with Germany has ended. That the Allied Control Commission will control all Germany. That all her possessions will belong automatically to the Allies. That all her credits and debits will come under their aegis. That all ambassadors, consuls and the like will cease to represent the Reich, which will be outlawed. Any nationals continuing to fight will be regarded as outlaws and dealt with accordingly. Parliaments will be summoned in London and the Dominions and statements by the respective Prime Ministers will outline details of the cessation of hostilities and consequential happenings, for example, nation-wide holidays in some countries, the removal of some wartime restrictions, and the announcement of what relaxations are possible without affecting the prosecution of the war against Japan.

England Now Let us be realistic about the British war effort against Japan. It would be ungenerous and stupid of us in Australia and xeflect inexcusable ignorance of conditions in England to-day, to expect this whole populace to plunge itself totally into the Pacific struggle the moment the all-clear sounded against Germany. Their heart and soul is in the Japanese fight, make nc mistake, and after a breather public fervour will not be a shred less than it was against Germany. Mr. Churchill's repeated pledges that Britain would throw in everything against Japan as soon as Germany was beaten will be fulfilled completely. But this nation is tired and warweary—many of its civilians even more than the sailors, soldiers and airmen. It is only human that after a six years' ordeal they should seek a let-up in mind and body. They will get it.

J Never forget that everybody here —man, woman and child—has been stripped to the bone. Five years of drastic food rationing is now telling its tale; so is the blackout; so are a dozen other things.

But a few weeks of rest and refreshment will make a big difference. Meanwhile, everything that Britain has in manpower, womanpower, ships, gun, tanks and equipment will be directed against Japan. Churchill Pays! The only time a pantechnicon appears in Downing Street, London, is to remove a retiring Prime Minister's furniture from No. 10 or" bring his successor's bags and baggage. x But a pantechnicon is needed urgently at No. 10 now to cope with the gifts which men and women in all parts of the free world are anxious to shower appreciatively upon Mr. Churchill. The latest include several bottles of champagne and brandy, personal gifts, from Marshal Stalin.

If. Mr. Churchill smoked even a fraction of the cigars sent to him— and they are the best the world produces—he could shroud London ■in a perpetual smoke-screen.

The latest cigar gift is 2500 by leading Cuban manufacturers. All this sounds pretty good, but there is a catch—His Majesty's Customs, like the Tax Commissioners, have no more sympathy for Mr. Churchill than for us. He is compelled to pay full duty on these gifts, which are far too bulky to fit into a diplomatic bag. Mr. Churchill must even pay a purchase tax on gifts which he gives. He paid full purchase tax on a silver plaque which he sent to the Teheran Embassy commemorating the 1943 meeting of the Big Three in Persia. Pin-Up Fan "Monty" has become a greater pin' up fan than ever. He has just written in a London newspaper:— "You once sent me a photograph of Rundstedt. By our operaticns we have unseated him! My opponents, whose pictures are in my caravan, have all departed—that is, Rommel and Rundstedt. The surest way to dispose of them seems to be to hang their portraits in my caravan! Could you, by any chance, send me a framed photograph of Kesselring? Obviously he must go the same way!

Ycurs sincerely, B. L. Montgomery, Field-Marshal." Kesselring's photograph, framed in funeral black, is now on its way to "Monty." Plans for Hitler What would you do with Hitler after the war? The London Evening Standard has asked its readers this —and been inundated with suggestions. Samples: Incarcerate him in the notorious Breedonck torture camp and force him to write a sequel to "Mein Kampf." entitled "My Restitution," in which he wculd admit that Germany was beaten on the battlefield. Tie him to a V 2, launch it, antf give him the air. Let a surgeon fix Hitler's right arm permanently in the Nazi salute position, and tattoo a crimson swastika permanently upon his forehead. Attach him and -other German criminals to barrage balloons and suspend them over bomb-damaged cities.

Bring him to England and force him to wcrk seven days a week repairing bomb-damaged homes. Execute him in the Tower of London—in the city he tried to destroy.