ATTACK RUSSIA

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21141, 8 July 1943, Page 3

ATTACK RUSSIA

PRESSURE ON JAPAN SIMULTANEOUS BLOWS GERMANS DISAPPOINTED LONDON, July C. Herr Hitler is believed to have been urging Japan to attack Russia simultaneously with the German summer offensive. All the available information points to the fact that the Japanese have been playing with the idea, but it is likely that they will wait until they see how the German offensive fares.

The Berlin radio reports that senior Japanese officers, for the first time, are visiting the Russian front. The Japanese military attache in Berlin is also with the party.

The New York Herald-Tribune's correspondent, Major Fielding Eliot, says it is unlikely that Japan possesses enough material to fight stoutly in the Pacific as well as to launch an attack against Russia. This is doubtless very disappointing to the Germans, who have been delaying their own thrusts against Russia until Japan was ready to strike a simultaneous blow. If the Japanese do launch an offensive against Russia while they are engaged in the Pacific they will either lose both or gamble one against the other.