NEW WAR SITUATION

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 302, 7 May 1941, Page 4

NEW WAR SITUATION

PERFIDY on the part of the ruler of Iraq has created an additional burden for the British Empire: in its war against aggression. Scarcely had the evacuation of Gteece been cpm pieted, than the flames of war flared up afresh in a new and unexpected quarter —the quasi-Arabian state of Iraq which has been befriended by Britain since its inception following the Great War. So completely has the world been taken by surprise at this new turn of events, that the action between the Iraqi forces and* the recently landed Imperial troops has taken first place in-public interest. It has temporarily eclipsed the tragedy of Greece, prostrate beneath the brutal Nazi heel, it has for the moment surpassed the vast possibilities of the outcome of the Battle of the Atlantic and to-day becomes headline news as the 'Fight for the Oil Wells of Iraq and Iran.' Only for the possession of these natural petrol supplies has Hitler condescended to intrigue with the ruler of Iraq, for well he knows that the Rumanian supplies are now taxed to the utmost to maintain his war machine, and well too he realises the uncertainty of the Russian supply. Thus the pistol at the head of the Turkish state, and thus too the veiled threat to neutral Transjordan, through which two countries it would be necessary for him to take: his armies to assist the laggard Italian Dictator to realise his long cherished dream—the conquest of Egypt. There is therefore a. twofold purpose in the southward drive through Asia Minor, and to counter the invasion from east and west, General Wavell will be called upon once more to employ the brilliant strategy which enabled him to roll up the first Italian invasion of Egypt. To him at this moment goes all our confidence and our faith. Our own New Zealand boys', who won imperishable glory on Olympus slopes, comprise part of his army. Perhaps some of the very Maoris whose fearsome haka, and bayonet charge spread fear and havoc in the Ger-man-Austrian ranks were drawn from our own. Whakatane district. We cannot as yet know of these facts, but this we do know,, and realise more day .by day, this war is now one hundred per cent ours. It is ours to see throught to the finish for it is our sacred right and privilege to be associated with the one and only nation left in the world capable of striking blow for blow in the cause of the freedom of mankind. This and our unshakeable: faith in its victorious outcome; make its prosecution our pride and our duty however grim the ordeal in the process.