GERMAN LOSSES ESTIMATED AT 2,930,000 MEN

Northern Advocate, 5 September 1941, Page 5

GERMAN LOSSES ESTIMATED AT 2,930,000 MEN

MOSCOW, September 4 A member of the Soviet Central Council (M. Yaroslavsky), writing in “Pravda,” says German losses in the two years of the war have totalled 2,930,000 men, including more than 2,000,000 on the eastern front, compared with 2,590,000 on the eastern front in the last war!

M. Yaroslavsky pointed out that the Five Year Plan has created important Soviet bases beyond the reach of the enemy.

infantry divisions, which had recently arrived. Before the year was out they would send over still another division, an armoured division. “The policy of the Canadian Government is to have our troops serve in those theatres where, viewing the war as a whole, it believed their services would count for the. most,” he said. “The Canadian people are' proud today that our men are among the defenders of the very heart of the free world.” Worldwide Dangers Mr. Mackenzie King said he was more than ever convinced that the dangers they faced together were world wide dangers. “The very existence of these islands is threatened,” he added. “At Suez and Gibraltar, and throughout the whole of the Mediterranean thefe is a constant danger of enemy attack. From the west and the east the security of India is threatened. Menacing clouds hang over Singapore. The most vital sources of British supplies and routes of communication and transportation are everywhere in danger. No greater mistake could be made than to think that British interests alone are menaced by this world-encircling danger. The strength, resources and capacity of the enemy is so great that no country which still possesses its freedom and independence is secure. Battle of Continents “We face a battle not of nations, but of continents. If tomorrow the wrnrld is not to face a battle between hemispheres. it is going to take all the strength that all the free people can muster to keep the conflict in this hemisphere, and finally extinguish it before the whole world is in flames. “In every country Hitlerism has found its most useful allies among those who believed that they could save themselves by isolation and neutrality, while others, fought battles of freedom. Britain, without aid far greater than any yet in sight, cannot win the struggle for freedom the world over. The war will be far longer, far harder, and far more desperate if all free men do not rally to your side while you are at the fullness of your strength. For the task that faces Britain and those who fight with her is nothing less than the task of saving humanity.” The “Northern Bridge” He said that the great “northern bridge” which stretched between Newfoundland, Greenland, Iceland and Scotland constituted the most vital strategic area in the world today. Across it came vast supplies of war materials, foodstuffs and fighting men.

If “this island bridgehead” should ever ,be lost it would move enslaving hordes of new barbarians. “That is why the fighting men of Canada are here in growing numbers to share in the task which is our de- . fence as well as yours.” he said. “President Roosevelt has said that the American people would do everything in their power to crush Hitler and the Nazi forces. The most important step in crushing Hitler is to render wholly secure this island base, from which the final attack must be launched. But it becomes daily clearer that resistance alone will not bring victory.” Dread Alternative He added: “Unless the whole of the resources and the total energies of the free world are thrown into the struggle the war may drag on for years, carrying in its train famine, pestilence and horrors still undreamed of. “As long as the forces of destruction continue to rage there can be no security, no progress, no peace in any corner of the world. Instead the world will drift more and more towards universal chaos in which the hopes of the reconstruction or of the new world order may altogether disappear.” Mr. Mackenzie King concluded by saying that the much talked of “new order” was something born, not made; New Relationship “It is something that lives and breathes, that needs to be developed in the minds and hearts of men, that touches the human soul,” he said. It expresses itelf in goodwill and mutual aid, it is the application in all human relations of the principle of helpfulness and service. “It is based not on fear, greed and hate, but on mutual trust and the noblest qualities of the human heart and mind. It seeks neither to divide nor destroy. Its aim is brotherhood, its method co-operation. “While the old order is destroying itself, this new relationship of men and nations is beginning to make slow but sure evoluton. This is the vision which unites and inspires and guides Britain and Canada and other nations of the British Commonwealth, the United States and Allies in ah parts of the world. No lesser vision will suffice to gain victory.”