END OF THE WAR

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 November 1944, Page 6

END OF THE WAR

MR. CHURCHILL’S CAUTION

LONDON, October 31

Moving the second reading of the Bill in the Commons for prolongation of Parliament for another yeai\ Mr. Churchill said that on military grounds alone it would not be prudent to assume a shorter period than eighteen months after the destruction of Hitler would be required for the final destruction of the Japanese will or capacity to fight. He was of opinion that the coalition should not be broken before Nazism was broken. Any attempt to estimate the date when war against Gertnany could be officially declared over could not be any more than a guess. He placed no dependance on a political uprising in Germany. On military grounds, it seemed difficult to believe the war against. Germany could be ended before Christmas or even before Easter, although many high military authorities, with every means of forming accurate judgment had expressed themselves more hopefully. “I certainly could not predict, still less guarantee the end of the German war before the end of Spring, or even before early Summer,” he said.