NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 40, 15 August 1941, Page 6

NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

LEADERS MEET

SOMEWHERE AT SEA

MILITARY PROBLEMS

It will be obvious that the most immediately Important questions discussed and decisions reached at the Atlantic rendezvous of President Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill have not been and will not be divulged. These are the military and political problems -of the - war as it is. The American President, wide though his powers are, cannot, ex officio, declare war. That 1 is a matter .for Congress. But nov doubt the whale of the war situation was discussed, Includinr Russia, the Far East, and the Atlantic bases in relation to the latest developments at Vichy. There is hardly any historic parallel to the meeting of Roosevelt, and Churchill in the Western Ocean. Beside it the occasional conferences of Hitler and Mussolini at .the Brenner Pass are insignificant:; because-the two dictators never, met as equals,. Hitler being by far, the predominant principal in. the Axis partnership. There, was no such event in the war of .1914-18, though the fateful arid fatal mission of Lord Kitchener to Russia jin 1916, which never reached its destination, might, had it succeeded in doing so. have been attended by important results. But erven that was not a meeting . of principals. . The only parallel; that ' occurs to that is remote [ enough—is the meeting of Napoleon I, ' at the height of his-power1, with Alex- '. ander I, Emperor o*-Russia, at Tilsit on the River". Niemen* in. 1807. These were the leading monarchs. of Coh- , tinental Europe at the time; but their ' compact did hot last long, and in 1812 Napoleon invaded Russia and sealed , his doom in\the disastrous retreat'from ; Moscow. Then \therewas the splendid ; pageant of thevField of ,the Cloth of Gold where, near Calais, Henry VIII, of England met Francis I of France in [ 1520. There was more .pageantry than, permanence of political 'consequences. These are almost 'thebnij\ examples that can be recalled by way\of com- ; parison with the 'Churchill-Roosevelt meeting "somewhere'at sea." v - Russian Situation. t The Russian situation continues to I exercise a paramount influence on the •" future of the whole war. It is now, ; to all appearances, more critical than. ' at any time since the German attack ■ was launched on June 22. While the ' German claims cannot be accepted \ without heavy discount, the Russian [ announcements reveal somewhat dis- ; quieting progress. It is* not now -so ' much the advance in the southern \ Ukraine that is disturbing, for it seems clear that Marshal Budenny has been able to withdraw the bulk of*his army to. the eastern bank v of the Bug,' which in its lower course, n«ar the Black Sea at Nikolaev, up to Untan, should be a fairly effective barrier, " There is nothing to show that Kiev and the Lower Dnieper are not safe, at least for the time being. The real1 danger is the abandonment of Smolensk on the Upper Dnieper and. the' possible penetration into the heart of * Russia within the elbow .of the Dnieper at Orsha. The Russians are said.to have destroyed the bridges, but the river ' is not impassable at this time' of the - year at this stage of its course. The ' threat to Moscow immediately becomes mote serious. In the north • the • Germans have also made some' progress to reach Straya Russa, immediate- • ly south of Lake Ilmen and less thari"Bo miles from the main Leningrad■- ■ Moscow railway and road. Further north in Estonia and on the Finnish • border there is no change: ': Twofold Problem. The military problem for Russia's . allies, including Britain, is twofold. 1 First there is the necessity for getting ■ supplies through to Russia, which is ■ even more difficult now than it was.in the last war. The Murmansk, route is .perilous on account of German bases in northern Norway. The -Dardanelles route to the Black Sea cannot be used, even if Turkey was agreeable, because Germany's control of the Greek archipelago in the Aegean blocks the approaches from the Mediterranean. Vladivostok is too far round to be feasible for Britain to send help, though useful for America. The neu- ', trality of Turkey and Iran rules out. access from the south to the Caucasus region of Russia and the Caspian Sea.' The other aspect of the problem is the possibility of helping Russia in the east by a military diversion in West : ,em Europe. The difficulties nave , already been discussed; they are obvious. The recent developments at Vichy and Japan's movement into Indo- ■ China further complicate the "problem . which faced the President and Mr. Churchill. Time alone will show what solutions they can offer. ; •'■■''■