The Grey River Argus SATURDAY, August 21, 1943. GO AHEAD!

Grey River Argus, 21 August 1943, Page 4

The Grey River Argus SATURDAY, August 21, 1943. GO AHEAD!

It is now obvious that any day will see the invasion, if not also the .surrender, of Italy, as the Ger- ' mans hurry north from the record blitz by shell and bomb to which the south of the country is now being subjected. Northern France is also strongly indicated as another point of attack and possibly Southern France will quickly follow Southern Italy as a bridgehead. The opportunity is the best for attacking the “fortress” that has yet existed. The Russians have, the Germans back-mov-ing into the Ukraine. It looks as if the Prussian General Staff may have decided the Ukraine may have to be given up, and if so the Crimea must also go. There is ficbelliofis activity also indicated in Scandinavia, while in the' Middle East large Allied forces •arc facing the Balkans. Messrs. i Churchill and Roosevelt are now 'referred to as “the oysters of the Quebec citadel,” where decisions of the present will be in the future learned by Germany and .Japan only when they are being I implemented by air, land and sea forces. Thus, with Italy clcfin- ' itely outed, there is the prospect i of the enemy in Europe having to get within his inner, as distinct from his outer fortress. Air power is finding the. Achilles heel of the Axis. The Japanese have suffered of late more convincing knock backs than any hitherto, having been beaten to the punch in one round after another, and being, apparently, left to rely as much as the Germans on entirely defensive [Strategy. There is now fresh news of the plan to attack them from India, and the British have sent to America a mission to arrange co-operation in a definite Pacific offensive. While the fighting fettle and strength of Germany and Japan can never be ignored or underrated, they confess by their tactics that they have lost ascendancy, and that the initiative is passing entirely to the Allies. This is the atmosphere which has shrewdly been chosen for the Quebec council of war, and it is a reminder of the days when Axis loaders used to foregather as they felt the initiative was all their own. It is excusable, therefore, when Allied spokesmen at Quebec phrase their warnings to the 'enemy in deliberately alarmist. | terms, and wlfien the • Eurhpean peoples whom the Germans have Iso long tyrannised are given the day and the hour that they may strike their own blows for liberty .for the first time in many long months of subjection. The near future -must therefore usher the war into its most critical and exciting stage, which, if all goes well, may bring the final decision much nearer than it has yet appeared.