FROM WEEK TO WEEK

Grey River Argus, 24 March 1943, Page 3

FROM WEEK TO WEEK

(By

H. Winston Rhodes)

THE WAR OF NERVES: The cables are full of mysterious hints and the air is thick with rumour. The Nazi thrust in the Kharkov area has increased the Uneasiness of the millions of anti-fascists who are eagerly awaiting the opening of the second front. There are suggestions that the end is coming sooner than we think. There are warnings that the war may last for several more years. There is a sudden official interest in post-war problems and further indications of the lack of unity between the United Nations.

Berlin speaks of the dangers of a second front and evacuates more areas. Moscow warns the German people that the second front is imminent. But the Nazi High Command send more troops to the east and observers with the R.A.F. report increased defensive measures inside the former boundaries of Germany.

In France guerrilla warfare becomes a serious problem. In the Mediterranean air activity increases. In Turkey there are reports of a belief that neutrality will soon be abandoned. It is suggested mysteriously that sudden and dramatic developments may be expected and that success or failure will be decided in a matter of a few hours.

All this is part of the war of nerves, but what is important is to know whose are the nerves that are likely to be upset. And when we are warned of the possibility ot several more years of war, what is important to know is whether or not some minds are entertaining the thought that a new war may develop out of this one. NAZI TACTICS’

There Is considerable evidence that the German High Command is attempting to build an impregnable ring round Germany, round what might be called Inner Germany, and, has decided that the attempt to guard the whole coast of Europe is impossible of achievement. This does not mean that no offensives are being contemplated. On the contrary the defence of Inner Germany implies a supreme effort to stabilise a strong defensive line in the East and to break at least for a period the striking power of the Red Army. It implies a tremendous central pool of men and equipment which can be rushed at a moment’s notice to any part of the enormous coastline and blunt if not repel an allied invasion. It is evident that the Nazi propaganda drive to create antagonism between Britain and America on the one hand and Soviet Russia on the other has not achieved the desired results. Results there may have been, but not the speedy result* necessary to alter the balance of oower in Germany’s favour

If the Nazi leaders have been forced to realise that at this stage they cannot hope to develop a crusade against “Bolshevism,” they must try other methods. If they ( have been forced to realise that they cannot hope to defend Europe against a combined attack from east and west, they must alter their, strategy.

Their only hope lies in the development of a crusade, against “Bolshevism,” and there are too many indications of disagreement between the United Nations for the Nazis to abandon their hope. There are too many indications of the imminence of a second front for them to believe that it can be delayed for many months.

:t is therefore by no means inconceivable that their future tactics will be poncerned with a tremendous effort to defend Inner Germany, to blunt and destroy the offensive power of their enemies and ,to foster disunity among the United Nations. ,lf, from the Nazi point of view, the worst comes to the worst, and they are faced' with a combined offensive in Europe, they may hope that rival factions and rival interests may cause rifts between their opponents, that a struggle to dominate Europe will develop, that the conflicts inside the smaller countries will increase and that they may be able either to force a stalemate or else to achieve unity in a crusade against “Bolshevism.” DIPLOMATIC INTRIGUE:

If there is any truth in these suggestions the alarm expressed over the dangerous drift of American policy away from Russia is of more importance than might be thought. It is difficulty to understand the extraordinary official activity in jßritain and America in connection with postwar relations except on the assumption that there are powerful forces in both countries more concerned with an attempt to counteract Soviet and Chinese influence after the war than with the attempt to destroy all remnants of fascism. It is difficult to understand this sudden activity except on the assumption that at least in some quarters the opinion is held that there is an urgent need to take the initiative before the initiative is wrested from those who are more interested in the balance of power than in the aspirations of the anti-fascist peoples.

If there is any truth at all in the suggestion of the New York Post that “American foreign policy may be deliberately establishing a block of conservative,, or anti-democratic, or semi-Fascist or Fascist nations in Europe as a bulwark against Russia,” then there is'sufficient rea-

son why the peoples of the world

should demand a;n imm<3(dia!t3 answer, clear and unmistakable, to a whole host of questions which affect relations with the Soviet Union. This war is not being fought for the sake of diplomatic intrigue. It is not being fought for the sake of perpetuating the rivalries of powerful financial or industrial groups. It is being fought for the people. It is being fought against fascism and against all brands of fascism.