From Week to Week

Grey River Argus, 10 September 1941, Page 7

From Week to Week

(By

H. Winston Rhodes)

The Coming Offensive The Red Army continues to offer every possible resistance to the Nazi-controlled forces desperately striving to advance on the Eastern front. The scorched earth policy is being carried out down to the last detail of destruction. Hitler’s problems of transportation and supply, of lasting the terrible pace of modern mechanised warfare, of maintaining armies of occupation in the conquered countries are increasing with the approach of winter. Unrest is growing in Europe. Madame Kollontai, the well-known Soviet woman ambassador to Sweden, sees signs of the greatest offensive the world has ever seen, and remarks: “I don’t consider it merely a dream to visualise the spectacle of the German Army, bled, beaten and battered, streaming back to Berlin to overthrow the Nazis as the defeated Czarist troops overthrew the Romanovs.”

The events of the past two and ahalf months, the reports of British experts in the Soviet Union, provide ample evidence that Soviet organisation of defence, supplies and evacuation is such that the utmost efficiency can be expected in the preparation and conduct of the coming offensive.

The scorched earth policy will be pursued as long as necessary. The offensive will not be launched prematurely. It will be launched at the time when the morale of the German Army is at a low ebb, its lines of communication broken by guerrilla troops and the driving power exhausted. It is known that so far the Red Army has used only half of its ofiensive strength, but the German High Command is being forced to use everything it possesses. The immense reserves of the Red Army are being held for the coming attack. Aid to Russia

Britain has co-operated with the Soviet Union in Iran, but there has been very little public and no official recognition of the fact that in so doing she has admitted the wisdom of (her ally's earlier advances in Finland, the Baltic States, Poland and Bessarabia. American oil is reported to have reached Vladivostock, but arrangements are being made for increasing quantities to go to Spain, arid there can be no complete guarantee that whether the oil remains in Spain or is transferred elsewhere. It will not be used to further Hitler’s plans. British air strength is greater than ever before. We have been told that the Battle for the Atlantic is turning in our favour. Hitler has been forced to move increasing numbers of troops from the occupied territories to Eastern Europe. Raids on Britain have almost ceased, and the German air force is fully occupied in the east. It is not surprising that more and more concern is being expressed in .Britain jbecause of the failure to assist the Russians by a western offensive. In many quarters it is being admitted that Churchill made a bad mistake in playing up the danger of invasion before September Ist. His warnings have been interpreted as an endeavour to find an excuse for the failure to help the Soviet Union. What is required at the present time is far less stetoric, fewer high-sounding pronouncements and more energetic action. The United Front

It is not to be expected tlhat conservative leaders and those whose investments help them to believe in the righteousness of capitalism can readily conceive a policy of co-opera-tion with the Soviet Union and the Communist leaders of revolt inside Germany and on the Continent. Nevertheless in Britain as well as elsewhere, opinion among the mass of the people is rapidly crystallising, and it is probable that a political crisis of the first magnitude will be produced unless the peqphe can be convinced by deeds that their present leaders are prepared to deal realistically with the situation that has arisen. It is significant that the trade unions in Britain have been prompt in exposing the attitude of high-plac-ed Government officials towards the Soviet Union. If the power of fascism is to be destroyed quickly and effectively there can be no room in the Government for those who openly or secretly express the hope that the Soviet Union will be crushed, even if they also desire the destruction of Hitler. There can be no room for those who are not in favour of organising immediate aid for the valiant men and women in the occupied territories who are braving the terror of the Gestapo in their daily struggle against fascism. There can be no room for those who are not prepared honestly and frankly to admit that many of these former interpretations of Soviet policy have been proved false by events.

A new situation requires new methods and a fresh approach, and the new situation in Europe in many ways resembles what has been happening in China during the past few years. China’s struggle against Japan has been weakened by attempts to break the united front which was formed between the Communists and the followers of Chiang Kai Shek. According to foreign commentators, and verified from Japanese sources, the Eighth Route and New Fourth Armies have borne the brunt of the fighting, but time after time they have been sabotaged from the rear.

These tragic events must not be repeated in Europe. Immediate and effective aid should be given the Soviet Union by forcing Hitler to fight a two-front war. Immediate and ef-

fective aid should be given to those who are prepared to revolt in the occupied territories, and if many of these are Communists and Commun-ist-led, we shall honour them for their courage and not leave it to them to appeal for a united front. The Soviet Union and her allies must be the allies of Britain, if Britain is to share the victory over fascism.