BLOT REMOVED

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 55, 3 September 1945, Page 5

BLOT REMOVED

PAST RUSSIAN DEFEATS

ISLANDS GAINED AS DEFENCE

BASES

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) Rec. 12.20 p.m. LONDON, Sept. 2. "Now we can say that the conditions necessary for world peace have been won," said Generalissimo Stalin, broadcasting to the people a personal announcement of Japan's surrender. "We have a special account of our own to settle with Japan. The Japanese invaders inflicted most serious damage not only on our Allies but on our own country. Japan began her aggression against Russia as far back as 1904, during the Russo-Japanese War. It is plain that Japan set herself the aim of wresting the entire Far East from Russia. We men of an older generation have waited 40 years for this day. Now it has come." • After comparing with Pearl Harbour ■■ Japan's attack on Russia without a declaration of war. in 1904, Stalin refer- | red to the Japanese aggression against the Soviet Union in 1918 and 1938 and in the area of the Mongolian People's Republic in 1939. He said that the Russian defeat in 1904 was a black stain on the history of Russia, and that the people had confidently awaited the day when Japan would be routed and the dark blot wiped out. Japan's surrender meant that southern Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands would pass to the Soviet Union and from now on would not serve as means for isolating Russia from the ocean and as bases for Japanese attack on Russia's Far East. They would serve instead as means of direct access to the ocean for the Soviet Union and as a base for the defence of Russia against Japanese aggression. "We know that from now on we can consider our country safe from threat of German invasion in the west and from Japanese invasion in the east. The long-awaited peace for the nations of the whole world has come. Glory to the armed forces of Russia, America, Britain, and China which have won victory over Japan! Glory to our great people! Eternal glory to the heroes who fell in battles for the honour and victory of our motherland! May our country thrive and prosper! Moscow radio announced that tomorrow will be observed as the official VJ holiday. Emphasising the need for continuation of the collaboration by the Allies which was established during the war, "Pravda" says: "It is natural that some differences have arisen, but —a much more important fact—they are being surmounted successfully. The world has a right to look with hope to the future."