The Northern Advocate "NORTHLAND FIRST" Registered for transmission through the Post as a Newspaper. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 1944. THE PRICE OF VICTORY.

Northern Advocate, 28 June 1944, Page 2

The Northern Advocate "NORTHLAND FIRST" Registered for transmission through the Post as a Newspaper. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 1944. THE PRICE OF VICTORY.

..mHE Germans have lost 80,000 in killed, wounded and 1 prisoners during the three weeks’ fighting on the. ** Normandy front. These losses are not fewer than out own.” These figures should be remembered when we speak lightly, if joyfully, of the Allied victory on Cherbourg Peninsula.. An Allied victory of great magnitude has been won. There is no room for doubt, about that. The capture of Cherbourg means that the Allies have in their hands one of the vital keys to Hitler’s European strongroom, the lock of which has already been seriously weakened by the Allies’ simultaneous and terrific blows. Apart from the port of Cherbourg, the Allies have greatly extended their hold on the peninsula, as a glance at the map will show. Americans and British have worked together in the ti ue spirit of co-operation. What one has done has been complementary to what the,other has done. Each has paid geneious tribute to the other. While Americans have performed the spectacular, though deadly work of taking the port of Cherbourg, British foices have held off enemy reinforcements by their operations to the south

and west. . It would appear that Caen, the possession of which is as important to the Germans as was Cherbourg, will fall to Allied strategy and military weight. If and when that happens, cheie will be given to General Montgomery freedom to extend his Normandy beachhead or to strike through Brittany, aided by another Allied landing somewhere on the northern coast of the Bay of Biscay. Of course, he may do neither of these things, for, now that he will hold big German forces on the west coast of Europe, the Allies may well intensify their blows at points far distant, thus further imposing upon Germany the need to dissipate her strength by process of division. Consideration of what may happen in the west must be governed by what is happening' in the east, where Russia,, in perfect co-operation with British and Americans, is delivering a sledge-hammer blow at what may prove to be the weakest point in the enemy’s armour. . In like manner, great things are being done in Italy, where the German armies are being steadily driven before the victorious 'Alexander and Clark. Anything may happen in this vital field of the Allies’ war plans. The position of the Allies in all theatres has improved to an extent that could not be hoped for a year ago. For that the peoples of the United Nations should be devoutly thankful. Furthermore, they—especially those who have escaped the horrors of war—should not forget the debt they owe to the men who have made possible this improvement. The reported casualties in Normandy, which are but an indication of what is happening on every front, reveals the price that is being paid to secure liberty. It is a sobering reflection.