ALLIED UNITY REAFFIRMED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21547, 28 October 1944, Page 5

ALLIED UNITY REAFFIRMED

TALKS IN MOSCOW PREMIEFMPLEASED POLICY AGREEMENT FRANCE AND BALKANS (British Official Wireless.) (11 a.m.) RUGBY, Oct. 27. The Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill, in a statement to the House of Commons on his visit to Moscow, spoke of the agreement on foreign policy established between the three major Allies and of the affairs of France, Poland, Greece and and the Balkans. “The present stage of the war is dour and hard and the lighting must be expected on all fronts to increase in scale and intensity,” said Mr. Churchill. “We believe that we are in the last lap, but this is a race in which failure to exert the fullest effort to the end may protract that end to a period almost unendurable to those who have almost the race in their hands after struggling so far. The enemy has two hopes—that by lengthening the struggle he may wear down our resolution and secondly that a division will arise between the three great Powers assailing him, whose continued union spells his doom. Quarrels may arise about Bulgaria, Poland or Hungary which, so he hopes, will mar the union of our counsels and the symmetry and momentum of our concerted advance. There is the enemy’s great hope and it is to deprive him of all hope that our efforts must ceaselessly be made.”

Mr. Churchill proceeded to point out that it could not be expected that the three great Powers .should not have many different views about their aims toward the various countries into which their victorious arms had carried them. The marvel was how good had been the unity between them. Moreover, there were problems of occasion and personality which made it extremely difficult to bring the hopes of the three Allies together in one place at one time. “Like a Wandering- Minstrel” “I have therefore not hesitated to travel from Court to Court, like a wandering minstrel, but always with the same song to sing or the same set of songs,” he added. “The meeting at Moscow was a sequel to Quebec. At Quebec, President Roosevelt and myself felt very much the absence of Russia. At Moscow, Marshal Stalin and I were very conscious that President Roosevelt was not with us, although Mr. Averill Harriman made us feel at all times the presence of the great republic.

“There was a reason for our dual conference at Quebec. British and American fighting forces are intermingled in the lines of battle as the fighting men of no two countries have ever before been mingled so closely and so easily. As to Russia, Britain has many problems in eastern Europe to solve in common with Russia and practical issues arise from day to day. We must disperse misunderstandings and forestall them before they occur. We must have practical policies to deal with day-to-day emergencies and, of course, must carry with us at every stage the Government of the United States. “I am satisfied with the results achieved in Moscow. lam quite sure that no final results can be attained until the heads of the three Governments meet again as I earnestly trust they may do before this year is ended.” continued Mr. Churchill. “After all, the future of the world depends on united action in the next two years by our three countries. Other countries will be associated, but the future depends upon the union of the three most powerful Allies. If that fails, all fails. If that succeeds the broad future for all nations may be assured. “Relations More Closer” “I am very glad to inform the House that our relations with Soviet Russia were never closer, more intimate and more cordial than at present. Never have we been able to reach so high a degree of frank, friendly discussion of delicate and potentially vexatious topics as at this meeting. Where we could not agree, we understood the ground for each other’s disagreement and each other’s viewpoint, but over a wide area—-astonishingly wide considering all the different angles from which we approached these topics—we found ourselves in full agreement. “It goes without saying that we were united to prosecute the war against Hitlerite Germany with absolute unity. Let all hope die in the German breasts that there will be the slightest division or weakening among the forces that are crowding in and will crush the life out of their resistance.”

“Upon the difficult question of the Balkans, we reached complete agreement and I do not feel there is any danger of our combined war effort being weakened by developments in policy in Greece, Yugoslavia and beyond the Balkans in Hungary. We reached a very good working agreement for those countries with the object of concerting all their efforts with our own against the common foe and also providing for a peaceful settlement after the war. We are acting jointly—Russia and Britain — in our relations with the Royal Yugoslav Government and Marshal Tito and have invited them, by joint message, to come together for the common cause as they had already agreed to do at a conference between them at Naples. How much better that there should be a joint Anglo-Soviet policy in this disturbed and very complex area than that one side should be backing one set of ideas and the other the onposite. We know it is a most pernicious state of affairs to grow up in any country because it may easily lead to misunderstanding between the great Powers themselves. It is so much easier to make arrangements by conference, but these work-a-day arrangements must be looked upon as temporary expedients to meet an emergency.”