FAITH IN VICTORY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 46, 24 February 1942, Page 6

FAITH IN VICTORY

Roosevelt On War Outlook

"WE WILL HAVE THE OFFENSIVE"

(By Telegraph—Press Association- -Copyright.)

Rcc. 2.30 p.m.) § NEW YORK, February 23. President Eoosevelt, in'a radio broadcast to the nation, showed spirit and confidence, but again emphasised that the war will not end soon and that difficult paths lie ahead. He declared that the Allies are daily increasing" in strength, and added: "We, and not our enemies, will have the offensive, and we will win the final battles and make the final peace."

-"The present great struggle," said Mr Roosevelt, "has taught us increasingly that personal freedom and security oi: property anywhere in the world depend upon security, rights and obligations, and liberty and justice, everywhere in the world.

"This new kind of war is different from all other wars in the past, not only in methods and weapons, hut in geography. It is warfare in terms of every continent, island, sea, and airlane in the world. ENDLESS BATTLEFIELDS. "The broad oceans which have been „ heralded in the past as our protection from attack become endless battlefields on which we are constantly being challenged by our enemies. We fight at these vast distances because that is where our enemies are. Until our flow, of supplies gives us a clear superiority, we must keep on striking our enemies wherever and whenever we can meet them. Actually, we are taking heavy toll of the enemy every •day that goes by. "The Nazis and the Japanese aim to separate the United States from Britain, China, and Russia, and to isolate them one from another so that each is surrounded and cut off from supplies and ifeinforcements. "There are those who still think in terms of sailing ships. They advise us to pull' our warships and planes into home waters and concentrate on last-ditch defence. Look at the map of the British Isles, Australia, New Zealand, the Dutch East Indies, and India, with their resources of raw materials and their j peoples determined to resist Axis domination. If these great -reservoirs were cut off we could no longer send them aid. <

''It is essential that we help China in her magnificent defence and her inevitable counter-offensive, for that is one important element in the ultimate defeat of Japan.

"if we lost communication with the South-west Pacific, all that area, including Australia and New Zealand, would fall under Japanese domination. Japan could then release great numbers of ships and men and launch attacks on a. large scale against the coast of •the Western Hemisphere, and at the same ..time extend her conquests to India, Africa, and the Near East.

"If we stopped sending munitions to the British and the Russians in the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf areas we would help the Nazis to overrun Turkey, Syria, Irak, Persia, Egypt, the Suez Canal, and the whole of the coast of North and West Africa, putting Germany within easy striking distance of South America.. If by such a fatuous policy we ceased to protect the North Atlantic supply, line to Britain and Russia, we would help to cripple the- splendid counter-offensive by Russia and we would deprive Britain of essential foodstuffs and munitions. "FLYING HIGH, STRIKING HARD." "Those Americans who believed we could live under the illusion of isolationism wanted the American Eagle to imitate the ostrich. Now those same people want our national bird to be turned into a turtle, but we prefer to retain the eagle, flying high and striking hard. I "I know I speak for the American people when I say that we reject the turtle policy and will continue increasingly to carry the war to the enemy in distant lands and waters, as far as possible from our home grounds. . "The maintenance of vital lines of communication in the North and South Atlantic, the Indian Ocean, and the South Pacific is a very tough job, requiring tremendous daring and resourcefulness, and, above all, tremendous production of, planes, tanks, and guns, as well a§ ships to carry them. I speak again for the American people when I say we can, and will, do that job. "Heavy bombers can fly to the South-west Pacific, but smaller planes cannot and must be packed in crates and shipped. Despite the length and difficulties of transportation, we have already a large number of bombers and pursuit planes, manned by American pilots, in daily contact with the enemy in the South-west Pacific, and thousands of American troops are engaged 1 in that area, not only in the air but on the ground.