NAZI HOPE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 65, 16 March 1940, Page 13

NAZI HOPE

KEEPING THE SPOILS

ESCAPE FROM WAR

DIPLOMATIC BUSTLE

(Daventry Broadcast.)

LONDON, Friday. Night. The end of the Finnish :v«r has been followed by rumours of &*eat diplomatic activity in other parts of Europe. Whatever part German diplo-

macy may or may not have payed in bringing the war to an end —a ad even the official Nazi organs cannot agree , - ,—it is evident that the German Gov- ,- ernment is now engaged in a diplo- 5 matic drive. ' '•"'>'

The opening gambit was Herr , yon Ribbentrop's visit to Rome, and it is' >J. ; thought that his mission was to repair ;• the Rome-Berlin axis, which had been • ■". put to such a severe strain because of Italy's open hostility to Russia. No\y that the Finnish war is over, ; the Nazis are hoping to persuade Italy to overcome her dislike of Russia. Herr - / yon Ribbentrop's great aim is to get Communist Russia and Fascist Italy to line up with Nazi Germany in a diplomatic, if not a military, sense. Herr yon Ribbentrop knows that Germany can never get what she wants in-th*. Balkans so long as Russia and Italy are resisting each other's efforts to gain influence, while they are both equally ready to-resist Germany. -

There is every indication, also, that' - ( the Nazis have not given up hope of ' ■ getting out of the war with the spoils still intact. They would like to get Italian and Russian support for another peace drive, and in the hope of achieving this would drag in nervous ">"- neutrals and even the United States. ' ■

The idea would be that Poland and. . :1 Czecho-Slovakia should be forgotten, and with them* out of the way the war - ; ,/- could be ended and a ■ fresh , attempt made to stabilise Europe. But the - ■'■ conquest of Czecho-Slovakia ' and .;, Poland cannot be forgotten, and the' Allies have pledged -themselves to j liberate the Czechs and Poles and to free Europe from the continued threat - i •* of Nazi aggression. They will not j be turned from their pledge by the spurious arguments which Herr Hitler - - wants other people to advance for him. That is the framework into which '\ the rumours of new . Nazi activity should be fitted. • .'.,'" : There are already stories of fresh' ~' German drives in Rumania, a supposed ' \' pact between Russia and, Rumania,, the resumption of trade talks between Italy and Russia,, to mention three out of . many. . ■ , r - The Nazis are spreading hints jof a . - forthcoming offensive on the Western I,>Front. We have often heard of these ' v hints befqre,,,and suspicion is arising " -: in the minds of many people that this ~ is just "another indication of the Nazis' J-) real desire tp get out of the war "and ,} keep the spoils. - - ■ ''