The Evening Star TUESDAY, JULY 13, 1943. ALLIES' GRAND STRATEGY.

Evening Star, Issue 24915, 13 July 1943, Page 2

The Evening Star TUESDAY, JULY 13, 1943. ALLIES' GRAND STRATEGY.

Apart from • reports of military successes in Sicily, to-day's news contains several items which encourage the belief, that the Allied plans for the subjugation of the Axis in Europe are well advanced. The actual fighting on Sicilian soil is likely to become more intense as the enemy girds himself for the stern test that lies ahead, and on that. account it is as well to avoid a too early optimism. Yet, as Mr Churchill once hinted, the United Nations', assault on the mammoth European fortress is unlikely to be confined to any particular front. All the Allied forces available ate not concentrated against .Sicily. < Axis radio stations have themselves given out the reminder that large armies are still stationed in the Eastern Mediterranean. So tremendous at this time isn the total Allied strength threatening the enemy coastlino in Southern Europe that, irrespective of the progress made in Sicily, further offensives are almost certain to be launched, before the best of the summer is over. Northern Europo must also be considered as a possible invasiou point. What is rightly .described as a dramatic message has been delivered by. the Algiers radio, controlled by Allied headquarters, calling on the French people to destroy Axis Observation posts along the coast and to sabotage enemy lines of communication. This appeal, in conjunction with a Tequest that Frenchmen should prepare dumps of weapons in anticipation of an Allied landing, offers more than a mere suggestion that our former allies will soon be asked to play their, part in i expelling the hated Boche from France. No such appeal would be made if the British and Americans did not deem themselves competent to intervene with force in time to prevent wholesale Nazi reprisals. In the course of this war the com* mentator -'who would, peer into the future has, generally speaking, found the bombers a reliable guide. The air offensive against the Ruhr had as its primary object the destruction of enemy industrial plants* <hiit in the case of Northern France the- almost continuous raiding is mainly directed at airfields and communication lines, and, particularly in recent months, has taken on all the aspects of a,'-, softening "operation preparatory to invasion. At any rate,-it will be no part of the Allied policy, to permit/the enemy to concentrate his strength against our troops ih Sicily. .Attacks,could be made both in Northern Europo and, the,,, Balkans. Now that the landings on Sicily have committed our, armsto a major, attack on Europe, there-will be no slackening of our efforts.' Oil the contrary, the momentum of the struggle will increase to an unparalleled pitch of intensity, and good reasons can be found for believing that, with the: help bf the people in the occupied countries, militant Germany and satellite Italy will eventually be overwhelmed. One message published to-day which may have more.than ordinary significance quotes M. Laval as admitting the failure of his policy of collaboration with Hitler. This confession could qiiit« well bo interpreted as a straw in the wind. The unspeakable Laval, traitor. and self-seeker, is probably beginning to realise that Germany's cause is hopeless and that, if he is to save himself from retribution ,at the hands of his own people, he must convince them that what he did was meant to be in the_ best interests;of France. .But, if justice prevails, Laval will share the fate of the Nazi gangsters. He has shown his hand too plainly to merit the slightest consideration.