SECOND FRONT

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23756, 30 September 1942, Page 3

SECOND FRONT

MR ATTLEE DEFENDS ALLIED ATTITUDE “NO NEED FOR PRODDING” INTO ACTION OTTAWA, Sept. 28. “The Allied leaders do not need prodding to open a second front.” said the Deputy-Prime Minister (Mr C. R. Attlee) at Ottawa. “It is unnecessary to prod them because you can take it for certain that we are all working on plans for an offensive. The second front has become something of a catch phrase. “The Battle of the Atlantic, the large air raids on Germany, and the fighting in the Middle East and elsewhere all have to be considered. All the fighting now being done by the Allies is part of the second front, and the fighting on all fronts affects it. Most people have agreed that nothing could be said in advance about a second front.” The New York “World Telegram.” criticising Mr Wendell Willkie’s statement that perhaps some of the Allied military leaders needed public prodding to open a second front, said in a leading article: “We doubt if any public figure since the outbreak of war has uttered a statement so ill-advised or advocated a course so weighted with danger and possible disaster. Not only every military commander, but Mr Churchill and Mr Roosevelt have made crystal dear their eagerness and determination to opeji a second front at the earliest hour compatible with the possibility of a military success. To move sooner would be to condemn thousands of British and American soldiers to purposeless slaughter. Such an ill-timed move might even mean the loss of the war. “We do not question Mr Willkie’s good intentions, but the depth and clarity of his thinking. His several expressions on military subjects on his tour have bordered on the sophomoric. The applause and flash bulbs apparently have caused Mr Willkie to talk out of his turn. This is no time for innocents abroad.” A Moscow radio commentator, replying to those who think that it would be over-dangerous to open a second front iiv Europe now, stated; “Some say that the lesson of the Dieppe raid was that landing operations were very costly. Some would not mind cancelling the war because it is so dangerous and difficult. The seamen who brought munitions to the Red Army were not frightened away because of the Fascist fire awaiting them. They did not wait until next 'spring. “It is impossible to beat Germany by bombing alone. A real second front is needed in Europe and the important thing is to open it now. The Russians’ defeat means the defeat of Britain and America.”

SOVIET BOMBERS RAID CZECH TOWNS

LONDON. Sept. 28. Russian long-range bombers recently raided the Czechoslovakian towns of Bratislava, Zilini, Trnava, and Trenchin, also Teplich, states Reuter’s correspondent on the German frontier. The Russians earlier dropped leaflets on these towns calling for a revolt against the German oppressors, and giving a warning that industrial centres and railways would be bombed. The authorities ordered the surrender of th 6 leaflets, and threatened to punish those withholding them.