VICTORY CERTAIN

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 75, 26 September 1944, Page 7

VICTORY CERTAIN

BUT AT A PRICE

ENGLISH REFLECTIONS

(By James Lansdale Hodson.)

LONDON, September 19

The first headline I saw on my return to England read, "All over bar the fighting!" There is much truth in that. But serious content shouldn't be lost. Those of us who have sons flying their Lancaster bombers over the Reich two or three nights weekly, and who hear over the radio—and with something of a catch at the heart—that 26 (or whatever the number may be) aircraft are missing need no reminder that the fighting is still fierce. And there are hundreds and thousands like us whose sons, brothers, or fathers are with Montgomery's or Alexander's or Mountbatten's infantry or artillery or tanks. There are men who'll be killed five minutes before^the signal to cease fire is given and %very minute until ;hat historic moment comes. A bitter thought. And yet alongside it runs the exultant feeling that won't be denied—springing from the knowledge that victory is surely ours and-cannot be very long delayed. If the mind goes back to this month, September, 1940, our situation is akin ;o miraculous. Four years ago the Battle of Britain was being fought, and our existence hiing in the balance. Our young lads in the R.A.F. who were saving the world were from time to time if ted from their cockpits too exhausted to climb out, and were borne to the dispersal • hut, fed with coffee and stimulants, and within half an hour aking to the air again. I have met lads who turned grey during those days, and I know of lads who lost their reason. Those were the days when our men shot 185 German aircraft out>. of he sky in one' day over Kent and London, and when our own reserves of aircraft were down to two or three squadrons Hitler and Goering lost their nerve and called off the battle. How close we were to disaster a few of us knew then. We saw scarves of white vapour high in ; the heavens from fighter exhausts, we heard the stammer of machine-guns, we dodged bombs, and farmers, in Kent gathered-crops or ploughed round crashed aircraft, but we never knew how great our peril was. When. the battle was won Churchill delivered himself of his immortal phrase, ( "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few," and the R.A.F. lads who had survived said with their customary irony, "He must be referring to our mess bills." STILL UNDER FIRE. While it is true that seldom in his;ory has the .situation been so perfectly and completely reversed so that it is in the German skies that the battle is now fought and on German soil ;hat Allied artillery shells are now falling, this England, confident of the outcome, is yet a mixed place. The citizens of Dover have been undergoing an ordeal of shellfire that is projably worse than any they have borne hitherto. No doubt the Germans are getting rid of their ammunition, knowing before long we shall capture the Cap Gris-Nez guns. But that doesn't make life in Dover any more pleasant. Flying bombs may have had ;heir day, but we haven't entirely seen the last of them. A fortnight ago we were warned that Hitler might in his desperation use gas, and I observe that ;he "Hamburger Fremdenblatt" asserts that the mysterious weapon named "A" will be Germany's salvation. We don't take that assertion very seriously, and we know that whatever Hitler attempts ie'll have to be quick about it. I menion both here only to make it clear that we are /aware that between now and "cease fire" we civilians may enlarge our war experience still further But not many of us are thinking of that; our thoughts are with our men dropped behind the German lines in Holland and with those assaulting the Siegfried, and Gothic Lines and hammering their way into Calais and Dunkirk. We know only too well the price- that's being paid" .will continue to be paid. Our hearts have a moment's exultation, but they cannot be said to be light. I have returned to a South England much more battered than even two months ago. Most of the house roofs in my neighbourhood aye wearing mufflers of tarpaulin to keep out the rain, and windows wear shields of wood or cardboard like blinded eyes.' The flying bombs took a heavy toll of damage during - those two months. Shabbiness and fatigue among us have deepened a little, so that it is no wonder that folk have made desperate efforts to. snatch brief holidays journeying by trains almost as crowded as Rome's tramway cars. Two months ago London's railway stations were thronged with* those hurrying north from the bombs; today they're jammed with those returning prematurely so that luggage and even mails have lain piled high on platforms for three days. DEMOCRACY DISCUSSES. Newspapers , and conversations are splinkled with talk on what to do with Germany. Some folk,, like Sumrier Welles, tavour splitting her' up into three component, parts; Liberal, like Sir Walton Layton, says she must be permitted no army, navy, or air force (Not much disagreement with that, I think.) . Churchill writes to Lord Robert Cecil'on the latter's eightieth birthday saying that he (Churchill) will act in the spirit of the principles of- the League of Nations, "but cloth-' ing those principles with the necessary authority." There's the rub, the necessary authority—something the League never had. We've all learnt the need for teeth if you want to bite. You'll see that in the democratic fashion were beginning to argue and discuss. Bernard Shaw throws a contentious bone on the table in his new "Everybody's Political What's What" by appearing still to despise democracy and love the dictators whom he sees as high-minded people who know how to get things done. A mocking query seems, to rise from ruined Italy and from a Germany destroyed and from jhe fine young manhood of the world whore killed or mutilated. What region of his own has he dwelt in these five years? We'll concede that our democracies are sorely imperfect, but they're the best form of government mankind has devised up to now and the surest safeguard against reckless wars. Our -own Commons are almost certainly going to be strengthened by Sir William Beveridge, one of our foremost thinkers and planners, who 11 sit as a Liberal. So do our minds, turn towards the day when the fighting in Europe is over. We expect a General Election to follow quickly and m it Labour will fight Tory, our Labour Cabinet Ministers included. Once that election is over, however it won't surprise me if Labour's principal men, such as-Morrison and Bevin, joined the Government again to help make the peace. This is assuming that the Tories under Churchill (who in himself has the approval of 80-90 per cent, of us) win the election as I personally think they will. But prophecy is dangerous. None knows how England's mind has been working these past few years, and how much idealism there is m our young people which find no outlet in the Conservative Party. TO THE BITTER END. . All over bar the fighting. The fightm S is of the "last ditch" variety, that which.distinguished the Battle of Britain, Stalingrad, and El Alamein. It may be most bitter. There's this difference, that our own resolution was deeper and our material and men of finer quality. But it would be foolish to, expect even now that Germany will be a push-over. And after that's finished our men will go streaming across the world to help put an end to the arrogance and delusions of the Japanese lovers of war, these creatures who ?i mos- outdid Hitler's Germany in thinking themselves Herrenvolk, divinely chosen to rule the earth. How long will that take? Twelve months? A good deal depends on Russia. At all events, you'll understand that mixed with our cheerfulness is much serious thought.

Surinam soldiers, paying a voluntary tax on all beer and cigarettes bought in military canteens, have collected a total of 50,000 guilders. The money will be used for food parcels for Dutch prisoners of war.