EAGER SPIRIT IN BRITAIN

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 270, 10 August 1943, Page 5

EAGER SPIRIT IN BRITAIN

Big Events Hoped For CLEAVAGE ON POLICY TOWARD ITALY Ominous Week For Reich (By Telegraph. —Press Assn. —Copyright.! (Special Correspondent.) (Received August 9; 7 p.m.) LONDON, August 8. The victories of the past week have produced an atmosphere of confidence throughout Britain which has never been exceeded during the war. No curb has been put on this mood, and one of the most frequent comments this weekend is upon a quotation from the memoirs of 1918 by the German General Ludendorff: “August 8 was the black day of the German Army.” The opinion is held that the same week in 1943 is no less ominous for German arms. _ , Of the three Allied victories—Orel, Byelgorod, and Catania —commentators suggest that the Russian victories are probably the most alarming to the Germans because they confirm the fact that the long-promised German summer offensive was a disaster. The Russian offensive, combined with the Sicilian victories, means the successful opening of two fronts. This, as the “Observer” points out, strikes at the very roots from out of which German strategy has grown. The “Observer” sees in the Russian victories the possibility of the present situation in Italy recurring In the Balkans. Kharkhov is “hotly pressed,” and if the Germans try to hold it they will be exposed to another encircling movement. “With Orel, Kursk and Kharkov in Russian hands, the Soviet commanders will control a network of. railways' based on the Moscow industrial area and stretching out three long branches into the vitals of the Ukraine,” says the paper. “As sure as the threat in Sicily encouraged the popular opposition to Mussolini, so a Soviet advance into the Ukraine would lead to a popular uprising in the Balkans. “Like the Italians, the Balkan States even now can see themselves reduced to the role of an outpost for German Nazism.” Threat From the South. There is considerable conjecture as to what will be the next-step in the Mediterranean. It is questioned whether it would be strategically sound for the Allies to pin down a relatively large proportion of their own manpower by occupying a no-man’s land in southern Italy. On the other band, if the Allies were firmly established in southern Italy they would threaten not only the German line north of Rome, but also the Balkans. The “Sunday Times” says: “From the heel of Italy it is a short crossing into the Balkans —short enough to permit of landings being made with fighter cover. Such landings, if they were successful, would outflank the enemy forces in Greece: That circumstance is combined with the fact that the burden of occupation, which has hitherto been borne almost entirely by the Italians, might cause an evacuation of Greece in the quite near future. It would not be surprising if Greece were the first conquered European country to be liberated.” Last weekjs debate in the House of Commons focused attention ou the Allies' political intentions inside Italy. The “Economist” states the opinion that the cleavage of opinion in the Commons was real and profound, and the journal gives support to a policy which was suggested by Mr. Ivor Thomas (Labour) that “there should be for some period a military occupation, during which the organs of democracy should be allowed to function again,” instead of attempting to throttle . down popular passions under some quasi-Fascist dictatorship. The “Observer” contends that Mr. Eden's reply to tlie debate was “an elegant but evasive little speech,” and it declares that it would be an immense relief to hear one word from the Government benches indicating that Britain’s leaders are alive to the immense and pressing opportunities and responsibilities of this question.