EUROPE UNITES

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 6, 6 July 1935, Page 30

EUROPE UNITES

AGAINST COMMON FOE

HITLER AS A MATCH-MAKER

ITALY'S 11ESPOXSE

Reichsfuhrer Adolf Hitler is a mar-1 vellous match-maker. This idea irresistibly comes to the mind' of the observer who has the rare opportunity of inspecting the military situation on both sides of the frontier of Italy and France (writes a London correspondent in the "New York Times"). For after 1913 the relations of Rome and Paris deteriorated gradually to such an extent that they started arming against each other. The valleys of the Alps were filled with formidable fortifications, many excavated underground; inaccessible crags .were crowned with redoubts, and a close network of strategical roads connected advanced positions with reserve bases far behind. Millions were spent on cement and steel. The enmity progressed so far that General Italo Balbo.'in the year of his famous mass flight across the Atlantic to Chicago, discussed witli General Hermann Wilhelm Goering, German Air Minister, a great Italian air invasion of France via the Rhone Valley to disorganise the rear of the French position while German shock troops would overrun the Rhineland. Today all is changed., Garrisons and forts have been reduced to skeletons, machine-gun crews are no longer alert in thdir rocky eyries and the reserves have been withdrawn from the strategic centres. Flying fields are untenanted. FRIENDSHIP SEALED. The French and Italians have marched away, the blue Chasseurs to the Rhone and the greenish Bersaglieri to the Austrian border. Herr Hitler's brutal methods have achieved the result of cementing the friendship of France and Italy where the prolonged effort of British diplomacy utterly failed. The ruler of Italy's destinies sits solidly in the grandeur of the splendid Palazzo Venezia close to the ancient Capitol in Rome watching the march of events. Premier Mussolini possesses the courage, found only rarely in European statesmen, to reverse a policy long pursued if the situation demands. His meeting with Herr Hitler in Venice last year convinced II Duce that Germany was launched upon action that could "be arrested only by an exhibition of real force and that preservation of the peace of Europe was possible only if the Powers possessed arms and' would quell an aggressor. As usual, swift action followed II Duce's decision. Agreement with France was achieved in the Rome conversations with the Foreign Minister, Pierre Laval, because Premier Mussolini swept minor obstacles out of the way to reach his main objective, which is co-operation. Mussolini is now driving vigorously for a full-fledged alliance with France as the foundation for an ambitious project firmly to secure the independence of Austria. The ultimate aim pursued is a tripartite agreement with equal partnership among France, Italy, and Yugoslavia for defending Central Europe against German encroachments. HIS BID. II Duce is now making a resolute bid for' Yugoslav friendship by recognition of Belgrade's claim to territorial integrity against all comers, particularly against Hungary. On instruction from Signor Mussolini the new Italian Minister admitted as much in an official Speech addressed to Prince Regent Paul. To prove their sincerity the Italians have sent the Croat revolutionaries' concentration camp to a distant island. The Italo-Franco-Yugoslav agreement is expected to link up with the AngloFrench entente on the one hand and with the Little Entente on the other. Thus a strong front will be created on the Danube. This development is important because the vital centres in Germany are easily menaced from the south. Munich is thirty minutes' flight from Italian air force bases, and Dessau, where the Reichswehr has its principal poison gas plant, is not further from points on the Bohemian plateau. Thus one sees the phenomenon of the German menace creating unity in a sector where since the World War there has existed a welter of helplessly warring interests in a number of small Stales. In case of a Nazi revolt in Austria, Yugoslav troops would enter that country, shoulder to shoulder with Italian forces. Such a development was truly unthinkable a year ago. Hungary, until now the spoiled child of Rome, which she repaid by fostering Germanophile preferences, is now, in consequence of the new policy, obliged to keep peace or be crushed immediFrom the south-west, Italy appears flanked by Yugoslavia and backed by France, while in the east, from beyond the Carpathian Mountains, looms the power of Russia, moving forward through Rumania in aid of the Little Entente. The next problem awaiting solution is to find a formula for a practical -partnership between Italy and Russia in the Danubian basin. Then the southern front, more dangerous for Germany tthan any other, becomes a formidable reality. To-paralyse, or at least delay, this menace Germany pins her hope on the anxiety caused in Italy by the problem of Abyssinia, where Berlin expects Mussolini to become thoroughly entangled. German intrigues in the Abyssinian capital are responsible to some extent for the uncompromising attitude of the Emperor towards the demands of Italy. .. FORCING THE PACE. Mussolini is aware of the danger and therefore is determined to force the pace by provoking a crisis before trouble starts on the Alps. Even London does not fully understand II Duce's determination to bring matters to a climax in that quarter. Incidentally, it is a curious circumstance that when Abyssinia applied for membership in the League of Nations Britain organised the opposition, arguing the incompatibility of the backward Abyssinian regime with the principles of the covenant. Active among the opponents of the Abyssinian application was Lady Simon, wife of the British Foreign Secretary, who is now raising Premier Mussolini's ire by lukewarm support of the Italian cause. Lady Simon is a luminary of the AntiSlavery Society. The weak spot in the situation is Austria herself, where the Nazis, continue their underground activities and the Government has no real grip on the country. For this reason the conference proposed in Rome for the Powers interested in the preservation of Austria's independence is important. Its failure would mean a revolt in Vienna immediately; therefore the conference will be postponed until the parties interested will reach an agreement beforehand on the measures to be applied. The British Government recognises the emergence of a new southern front and admits that ultimately peace may be saved by the timely, strength shown in that quarter: Britain is already committed to consultation if danger arises in Austria, but further commitments are improbable before the

present National Government is reconstructed. In fact, the progress of the organisation of the southern front resistance depends largely on j this Ministerial reconstruction, now i admitted to be inevitable. However, it may be necessary always to remember that Stresa marks the turning point in British policy regarding Europe, expressed by Mr. MacDonald before the conference broke up. As reported, his parting words to his Italian and French colleagues were: —

"Until now British policy has been to hold the door open for Germany to enter, because otherwise the organisa- j lion of collective security is impos-, sible; but tpday we say to the Germans: 'The door has not been closed, but beware! Collective security will come with' you if you are, willing, without you if you are Obstinately aloof, against you if aggressive armament continues.' "