HELP FOR SOVIET

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 24000, 25 June 1941, Page 7

HELP FOR SOVIET

"BUSINESS BASIS"

POOLING INFORMATION

MACHINE TOOLS NKKDKT) (Reed. ft.Hi p.m.) LONDON, Juno 21

"Any help will be gladly accepted on a business basis, with payment for goods and services," was the Soviet's reply to the British offer of help which M. Maisky, the Russian Ambassador, gave Mr. Eden, says the Times diplomatic correspondent.

Britain lias learned more than any country about Gorman methods of warfare, and the pooling of information quickly will he the best preparation for more practical help. It would not be surprising, therefore, 1o see a technical mission going to Moscow.

Russia chielly lacks machine tools and oil drilling apparatus, which America might supply, but clearly the lighting in the next fortnight will determine the nature and scope of the help and whether it should be given on a long-term or a short-term basis. Britain's assistance to Russia, apart from air attacks in the West, was discussed when M. Maisky again visited Mr. Eden.

Turkish reports state that a British military mission is going to Moscow from Kgypt to co-ordinate the British and Russian war efforts.

The political correspondent ol the Daily Kx press says that when Sir Stafford Cripps went to Moscow last year as British Ambassador he carried a letter from Mr. Churchill to Stalin, pointing out the peril ot Germany's growing strength and urging the cooperation of Russia with the Allies. Stalin then expressed the conviction that Hitler would turn on Russia when it suited him. Sir Stafford Cripps recently formed the impression that an attack against Russia was imminent, and he therefore returned to London with his report.

RUMOURED REVOLTS

LATVIA AND LITHUANIA (Reed. 7.30 p.m.) LONDON, June '24 Lithuania is reported to have dodared her independence and separated from the Soviet Union. A new Government has been formed, headed by 31. Skirpa. a former Minister in Berlin. The German Foreign Office, however, denied knowledge of a Lithuanian coup and said M. Skirpa was detained in Berlin. The Riga (Latvia) radio announced that the Russians had placed the town under martial law, imposing curfew between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. A report from Berlin said 60,000 armed Latvians had revolted, inflicting serious losses on the Russians and destroying roads and bridges and occupying arms factories. The Soviet 'Pass agency declared Kaunas, the capital of Lithuania, was completely calm and thousands of men were volunteering to fight against the Germans. Earlier messages stated that a German force was reported to have landed at Riga, in Latvia. The Germans can count on a friendly welcome from the population in the Baltic States and are using Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian detachments, which have been training under German officers since last year. DANGER TO AMERICA GAIN FROM NAZI VICTORY NEW YORK, June It is pointed out by the Now York Times in a leading article that a victory b,v Germany over Russia would hold ominous possibilities for the United States. "The supplies she would gain, including immense military equipment, would enable her to defy the British blockade for years," it says. "Hitler would create a puppet Government in Russia, which would assist him to seize the Middle East, and possibly India and China, enabling hfm to make direct connection with Japan. "He could then almost certainly enable or compel Japan to carry out her conquest of China, the Netherlands Last Indies and the Western Pacific. America at last would be threatened by Hitler on two oceans." The New York Herald-Tribune's leading article states: "This is the great crisis of the war, and therefore the great crisis of Western history. Beside this simple fact, every other consideration is secondary. The breathing-space which it brings to Britain and the United States is not important, except to the extent to which every possible use is made of it."