The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3, 1940. PROGRESS OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 84, 3 January 1940, Page 6

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3, 1940. PROGRESS OF THE WAR

4 In his New Year broadcast to the people oi New Zealand, his Excellency the Governor-General called upon the nation to reflect upon the portentous conflict which has overcast the dawn of our second century. The cherished hopes tor our Centennial year of joy, happiness, and prosperity, he said have been frustrated by events beyond our control. Our fortunes and destiny are gravely involved in what Lord Galway describes as “the most serious situation ever forced upon the Empire.” It should be realized by the public that these are carefully-measured words. The war, as . Major-General Freyberg emphasized a few days ago, has not really begun. Theie may be a long and bitter struggle ahead of us. ' The British Empire and France took up arms against Germany on moral issues which have evoked the approval of every democratic country throughout the world. Already, however, the situation as it stood on the outbreak of the war has been substantially changed . by the aggressive activities of Soviet Russia in the Baltic, culminating in the invasion of Finland, whose gallant defence and successes against the invaders have won general admiration. At the last meeting of the League of Nations, from which body Russia has now been expelled for her violation of the Covenant, it was left to the various member States to take what action they might deem lit to assist the Finns to carry on the war. It is now announced that Britain and France have notified the League of their intention to give Finland all the assistance they are in a position to give. The nature of this is not stated, but, according to a Daventry message, it is known to be substantial. This is a very significant development, which may conceivably result in complications threatening an extension of the present area of the main European conflict.

According to the Rome Press, Russia is massing troops, estimated at 800,000, on ’the Afghan frontier, and the Allies are organizing an expeditionary force of 300,000 as a precautionary measure. Russian troop concentrations are also reported from the Caucasus, and defence preparations in Iran, Irak, and Afghanistan are being hastened. While these reports should be treated with reserve, it is possible that they are based on rumours reflecting a feeling of tension and apprehension in the Middle East and North-west India. There is little doubt that in the undercurrents of the European war, revolutionary forces, hoping to profit by the general unsettlement of international affairs, are actively at work. German Nazism and Russian Communism are revolutionary and destructive ideologies with far-reaching aims. In at least one particular, their methods are identical —the tactics of “smash and grab.” The Rome reports abovementioned are, therefore, consistent with these principles of action. ’ * The Allies, therefore, may have to fight revolution as well as their immediate enemy, Germany. The fact must again be emphasized that it is impossible to predict the duration, the course, and the ramifications of a modern major war once it begins. We in this country have thus far experienced nothing of the vicissitudes of the present war to convince us of its grim reality, of the danger which may overtake us if in the course of events the storm should spread. .We should, therefore, take to heart and reflect upon the GovernorGeneral’s deliberate statement of the gravity of the situation with which the Empire is faced, and Major-General Freybefg’s warning that the war in reality has not yet seriously begun. Thus far the progress of events'has been altogether satisfactory and encouraging to the Allies. Week by week their strength and resources are being augmented, while in the case of the enemy, as The Times says in a review of the situation, “time moves inexorably against the Germans.” Morally, and in the organization of their armed forces, the Allies are more strongly united and completely at one than ever before. Their naval supremacy is unchallengable; in the air they have proved their superiority in men and machines. A Japanese observer, in fact, has been so impressed by the course of events during the first four months of the war as to have formed the conviction that the turning point in favour of the Allies will be reached by Easter. We must not, however, allow this highly satisfactory state of the situation to engender a tendency to relax in an atmosphere of fancied security. It is always the unexpected that happens in war, and the final victory is assured to the side that is armed against all contingencies. '