The Evening Star TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1941. DANGEROUS OPTIMISM,

Evening Star, Issue 24003, 30 September 1941, Page 6

The Evening Star TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1941. DANGEROUS OPTIMISM,

Although the people of the British Empire and those of Allied countries have every reason to believe, and believe without the vestige of a doubt, that the final victory will be won by the forces which are making a stand against the hideous Nazi-Fascist brand of aggression, they cannot be warned too often against harbouring the dangerous viewpoint that the worst is now over, and that, to quote a very unwise Shavianisro, all we have to do now is to sit back and let Stalin beat Hitler for us. No secret is being made now of Russia’s need for help. Gallantly as her troops are fighting against the mammoth German war machine, it is impossible, from a careful reading of the news from the various fronts, to escape realisation of the truth that the Nazis are still able to maintain terrific pressure on the defenders’ lines and at some points even to launch attacks of “ blitz ” intensity. Certainly it is good to read of Leningrad’s magnificent stand, for the Germans are most anxious to capture the city before winter sets in.. On the other band, it can be no part of their strategy at this time of the year to venture very far past Smolensk on the road to Moscow; consequently no outstanding significance can bo attached to Marshal Timoshenko’s local successes on the central front. The opinion of the majority of the British military correspondents that the greatest danger lies in the push across-the South Ukraine to the Caucasus finds corroboration in the news that the Nazis are preparing to assault the Crimean Peninsula on a “ blitzkrieg” scale. >When the Crimea is menaced, so, too, are Russian naval control of the Black Sea and the oil wells. It needs little imagination to' understand what Russia’s plight would be if she were robbed of the fuel which animates her army and air force. Although Britain's chances of success in. establishing a second European front of serviceable magnitude at this time of the year are not encouraging, it is becoming increasingly clear that in almost every other way Russia will have to be given full and speedy aid if she is to survive as a belligerent Power. The Royal Air Force is already doing fine work over the eastern front, and no doubt the Three-Power Conference in Moscow will be able to work out a scheme under which both Britain and the United States will supply aeroplanes and tanks at a rate that will be helpful in checking the aggressors. If this is done, however, it is all the more imperative that the enemy should be kept well away from the oilfields. M. Litvinov, former Soviet Foreign Commissar, is convinced that the decisive blow in defeating Hitler must be struck on the land. “ Theoretically speaking,” he declared recently, “ the resources of three such powerful States as the British Empire, the Soviet Union, and the United States should ensure victory over an unnaturally inflated Germany, which has been able to command the services of only a few of the weaker States of Europe. But (and here is the important point) the problem is to unite these resources and use them in , the i most expedient way at the proper moment, and in the proper places.” It is this very problem which the delegates now conferring in Moscow will be earnestly considering. There will be no easy road to victory. Forces of tho British Empire and perhaps (who knows?) of the United States also, will have to figure prominently in land fighting before the war-crazed Germans are brought to their knees and peaceful reconstruction of tho world begins.