Evening Post WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 1942. CRISIS IN WORLD WAR

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 135, 10 June 1942, Page 4

Evening Post WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 1942. CRISIS IN WORLD WAR

There have been many critical periods in the progress of the world war hitherto when the fate of freedom has seemed to hang in the balance, notably, the summer of 1940, when Britain, and the British Empire alone defied the triumphant Nazi Wchrmacht, the autumn of 1941, when Russia had to sustain the whole impact of the Germans, and the first foiir months of this year, when the Japanese swarmed over the East Indies and reached the fringe of Australia and India. The United Nations survived these perils and brought the enemy to a halt in his march. Now the enemy has massed his strength once more for a last desperate effort to achieve victory, and the United Nations face the most critical period of all. Lieutenant-General Arnold, Chief of the United States Army Air Force, put it plainly in an address to Americans at lowa, reported yesterday, when he said: "The Axis knows that the next six months will spell victory or defeat for their forces. For ithe Axis it is now or never." The reason is that the Axis is at the peak, if it has not already passed the peak, |of its strength, while the United Nations have still some way to go before they attain the maximum of their war potential In the interval lies the last chance for the Axis. What is the outlook? In the great land theatre of war in Europe there is a comparative lull in Russia, after the fierce, prolonged Battle of Kharkov, except for a violent German effort in the Crimea to overwhelm Sebastopol by sheer weight and so deprive the Russians of their I chief naval base in the Black- Sea. Success to the enemy might enable them to attack the Caucasus in the rear by .sea-borne forces. So far Sebastopol holds out, as it has done for many months. In Libya the Axis is fighting desperately in the desert, where the fortune of war is notoriously fickle, to open a way to Egypt. [The battle, which has raged in blazing heat for nearly a fortnight, is not yet over, and further Axis attacks are expected, but the position as seen in London is described as not unsatisfactory. Over Western Europe the Royal Air Force flies day and night dealing destruction and preparing the way for a landing of Allied armies when the time is ripe. There are signs that the oppressed nations of Europe, burning with hatred of the Nazi rule and its trail of execution of the innocent, may not have long to wait for deliverance. In the East the Japanese are, for the first time on land and sea, coming up against the main strength of the United Nations and taking hard knocks. There are good grounds for hope and confidence in the outcome of these critical next fewi months. The strength of the United Nations is mounting up everywhere in men and material, and there is not likely again to be a repetition of those unfortunate episodes and campaigns where the Allies have had to fight against impossible odds in a series of forlorn hopes. In no theatre of war will there, it seems, be Allied air inferiority leading to disaster or an absence of strength at sea leaving outlets for enemy expansion. The Allies have the men and material; their chief difficulty is a shortage of ships, and it is a serious difficulty. Losses by submarine activity have been heavy, especially in American waters, but this problem is now being tackled with the skill and resolution which have characterised American effort since the entry of the United States into the war. New ships are coming into commission at an increasing rate, while the toll of the submarine is likely to diminish as measures against this menace grow more effective. But the period remains critical and calls for the utmost effort on the part of all so that it may be surmounted with success and the final stage reached on the road to victory.