Nelson Evening Mail TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1941 SUSTAINING RUSSIA

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 14 October 1941, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1941 SUSTAINING RUSSIA

| WHEN the galvanising power of Lord i j Beaverbrook gets behind a problem j 1 it usually moves quickly and surely i towards a solution. In organising all j aid for Russia he has a task big | enough for the biggest man, the kind : of job with which this self-made peer loves to wrestle. He is an outstanding | example of that “rugged individualist” i I class which some people believe to be I ! synonymous with “grasping capi- : _ j talist” but his oft-proven ability to j make his part of the war machinej j work efficiently and quickly is unI questioned. The gift of this kind! of organising ability is rare I enough for men of the Beaverbrook : type to be worth much more than! their weight in gold. Of his mission to Moscow he has j told in his own forthright and vigorous manner. There he was teamed j with an American named Avercll: Harriman who apparently is a good ! example of American hustle. “They! sustained and supported us in everything,” Lord Beaverbrook has said, ! referring to the United States delej gation at the conference, “and they ; gave the British mission their entire! confidence. How much we owe to Mr Harriman and his colleagues we can never tell; certainly the debt cannot be repaid.” After a short reception on their arrival in Moscow the combined delegations got straight down to business. They worked all day to see what each had to offer, going even so far as to anticipate Russian requirements and prepare typescript replies to questions in advance. By the time night came they were ready to go to the Kremlin to meet the Soviet leaders, MM. Stalin and Molotov, with M. Litvinoff, a former Russian ambassador to London, acting as interpreter. Lord Beaverbrook’s shrewd pen-portrait of M. Stalin is illuminating. He found his knowledge and understanding of the munitions of war second only to that of Mr Churchill in men of his acquaintance. After three days of high-pressure negotiations they were able to fit British and United States resources and j Russian requirements into a plan for large-scale assistance. As a result much that the Soviet asked for and all that Britain and the United States ' could give at present is being sup- , plied. Tanks and aircraft were first ! on the list of needs and Lord Beaver-, I brook is able to say that the October , quotas of these are full. What else i was on the Soviet list? Guns—a few big ones and many others —a variety , of raw materials, such as aluminium, j copper, lead, zinc, tin, cobalt, brass, rubber, jute, wool, phosphorus, diamonds and shellac. In these practically all the Russian requirements have been agreed to. Petroleum ! products are to be .supplied by the ! United Slates while there are other j specialised Russian needs which are ; to be the subject of further considJ eration. J With this obvious eagerness on the j part of Britain and the United States ! to do all in their power to aid Russia -L in her extremity M. Stalin was pleased, confident and satisfied and Lord Beaverbrook comments that he is not an easy man to satisfy. In help for Russia Britain has committed herself up to a point where she may be impinging on her own security. Lord Beaverbrook has pointed out

however, that the supreme need at present is for the Russians to be sustained and that, in order to enjoy the sunshine with them we must also endure the shadows. He and the rest of tlio combined delegations have organised wonderfully. They have pledged the faith of the working men and women of Britain and the New World, he says. “We have spoken words, but you must do the deeds,” he has told the British workers. This is a most auspicious start of the organised campaign of help for Russia. Most of the material for October has already been provided for. There comes news from the United States to-day that much of her quota is on the water. From now on one of the biggest obligations of Britain and the United States is to support the Russians and build up their fighting potential so that they will not break beneath the unparalleled pressure to which they are now being subjected. Clearly that is one of the best means of attacking Hitler: to direct the antiAxis war strength where it is most urgently needed. We have to see to it that the Russian armies can rise again as fighting forces in the spring If they were unable to do this through lack of support which we might have been able to give, our blunder in neglecting to pool resources would have allowed Hitler to take another mighty step forward in the practice of his “one-by-one” technique.