The Evening Post WELLINGTON, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1944. CREEPING PARALYSIS OF GERMANY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 81, 3 October 1944, Page 4

The Evening Post WELLINGTON, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1944.

CREEPING PARALYSIS OF GERMANY

In 1941 Germany stood with two firm legs planted securely in the Mediterranean Sea. These legs were the Italian and the Balkan peninsulas. The first leg was acquired by alliance— treacherously—in 1940, and the second was acquired after the Greeks had thrashed an Italian invading army, whose falling laurels were picked up by the German legi&ns. Not content with driving a limited Allied expeditionary force—including New Zealanders—out of Greece in April, 1941, the German army drove a part of it out of Crete in May. Thus Germany assumed a direct ascendancy over her ally Italy; and the Italian and Balkan peninsulas, with their outlying islands, notably Sicily and the Grecian islands, became the southern limbs of the' German Colossus. With Britain fighting alone, who would have dreamed that the German-Italian power, already firmly established in Africa and straining towards Egypt, could possibly be checked? Yet the year 1944 finds the blood of the Axis circulating only feebly in.the Balkan Peninsula, circulating rather more- strongly in north Italy, and circulating not at all in Africa. Creeping paralysis now deadens those strong legs that once supported Germany in the ~ Mediterranean Sea. All over Europe the blood recedes from the extremities towards the heart of the Axis—not evenly, because the German resistance in Italy seems to jbe much stronger than in the Balkan,s, while the power position in Finland and Norway is obscure. But France lis sundered from Germany never to return. At all points of the compass creeping paralysis approaches the German heart. .

One of Churchill's audacious strokes of genius- was his sending to Egypt, for the. defence of North Africa, of military power .that was badly needed for. the defence of the British island, heart of the Empine. The fact that Britain was without any important ally, faced a-'shipping shortage, and had to send war supplies for Egypt on a terrific 'voyage round the Cape of Good Hope, serves to heighten one's sense »of Churchill's magnificent audacity. All this should be remembered .as ' the world watches the j creeping paralysis of Germany's Mediterranean extremities, and Germany's total incapacity to prevent the Allies using the Mediterranean Sea route with its saving of snipping. Toi day Britain makes the important step of by-passing Crete to land in Kythera, an island between Crete and Greece; meanwhile the Russian army and Tito's Yugoslav forces and Allied units on the Adriatic Dalmatian littoral draw a cordon across the-upper part of the Balkan Peninsula. Is there any escape left for Germans south of that cordon? Further, is 'there any re-«?£try to Germany for the muchmor^ formidable German forces in aori!h Italy? Mr. Churchill in his last speech predicted that henceforth "conditions will be more favourable for the destruction or rout of Kesselring's army." In both the Mediterranean peninsulas the Germans may have tarried too long. The hour of forcible amputation draws,near, ..

The manner in .which the Germans have clung to north. Italy; and, until recently, to the northern French coast, including Calais, may have some bearing on the air war. Defensively, the German army in Italy lengthens the range for Allied bombers striking at southern Germany; offensively, Calais was important to German flying bombs as well as to the Channel big guns. But the contracted German circle inevitably has soft sectors as well as hard ones, and a Germany who lost in France alone a million men will find it impossible to defend adequately all the points of attack that are open to thej Western Allies on the west, to Russia on the east, and, to all the Allies on the south and south-aast. Already Hungary feels herself thrown to the wolves. The Allies again call on Austria to do something-for her own independent salvation. And although Germany gained a tactical ' success against the airborne division near Arnhem, that incident has not ameliorated her strategic predicament. The gallant effort of the airborne division comes within the terms of Churchill's phrase, "the propriety of running risks." No tactical, risk possible to the Allies today can'equal the -risk he successfully ran in 1941, when "the only great unconquered nation which declared war on Germany on account of Germany's aggression on Poland" was fighting alone and with her back to the wall. Those were the days when war dominated politics. The days seem to be coming when politics may dominate war.' And that is the continuing trial of strength that democracy and civilisation must face.