SOVIET UNION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25068, 9 November 1942, Page 2

SOVIET UNION

FIRST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS NATIONAL CELEBRATIONS (Roc. 5 p.m.) MOSCOW, Nov. 7. Russia to-day celebrated the first 25 years of the U.S.S.R. by a great national holiday. The decorations in Moscow include gigantic house-high red banners opposite Lenin’s tomb in the Red Square, with 50-yard-long slogan streamers. There are also three-storey-high portraits of M. Stalin, M. Molotov, and M. Kalinin, members of the Defence Committee, and other leaders. These have been placed on many buildings. Messages of greetings are pouring into Moscow from the leaders of the United Nations. A contribution to the buoyant spirits was an announcement that at least 100,000 members of the Axis forces were estimated to have been killed at the approaches to Stalingrad in the past two months, and also that 800 tanks and 1000 planes were destroyed. The troops defending Stalingrad sent a message to M. Stalin swearing on oath to defend the city to the last breath. “ Stalingrad will not fall, and the enemy will not reach the Volga, they declared. . The First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr A. V. Alexander, in a message to the Commissar for the Navy, Admiral Kuznetsov, conveying the Royal Navy’s congratulations, said: “ Russia may rely on the Royal Navy’s never relaxing the bitter and widespread struggle in order that an ever-increasing amount of munitions may be placed at the disposal of the Soviet forces.” MESSAGES OF GOODWILL RUSSIAN COURAGE PRAISED (Rec. 5 p.m.) RUGBY, Nov. 7. A warm tribute is paid to the people of Russia by the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Mr Anthony Eden, in a message appearing in the newspaper Brianskyi Seuyznik—the British Ally —which was published in Russia on the occasion of Russian National Day. “The heroic resistance of the Red Army and the whole of the Soviet nation to the predatory aggression of Hitlerite Germany has demonstrated, to friend and foe alike the moral strength and material power of the edifice which the people of the Soviet have erected in the last 25 years,” Mr Eden said “Their united determination to defend the fruits of their labours assures them of victory. Twenty-five years ago they were alone. To-day they are supported by powerful Allies, who share their resolve to annihilate aggression and bring to justice in due coui’se those guilty of a million crimes. The power of the grand coalition that has now arisen is forcing the enemy on the defensive, and the day is approaching when the United Nations will re-enter to their own, and the German invader will be driven out of all the lands he has seized and devastated. , , , “As Allies in this great task and also in the work of post-war reconstruction,” Mr Eden concluded,” the Soviet Union and Britain are cooperating closely _ and confidently, inspired by the spirit of the AngloSoviet Treaty, which has ensured that our two nations, both during the war and for the next 20 years, will march together for the benefit of human progress and liberty.” “ For the second time in a generation our two countries are in the forefront of a gathering of nations who are aligned against a common enemy.” President Roosevelt said, in a message of congratulations to the President of the Supreme Soviet Council, M. Kalinin. “ Collaboration in the mighty military task before us,” he added, “ must be a prelude to collaboration in the mightier task of creating a world at peace.” . , The Greek Prime Minister M. Tsouderos, in a message to M. Stalin, said: “The deeds of the soldiers and workers of Russia have -evoked the admiration of the whole world as gloriously they struggle, day by day, to wear down the Nazis’ barbarous war machine, thereby defending not their own country alone, but the freedom of all the democratic peoples of the earth. Both within and without the confines of their native soil, the Greeks continue side by side with the democratic nations in the common fight for freedom.” NEW ZEALAND TRIBUTE £25.000 FOR MEDICAL AID (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Nov. 7. The following telegram has been sent by the Prime Minister, Mr P. Fraser, to the British Ambassador at Moscow, Sir Archibald Clark Kerr, for trapsmission to the Government of the USSR * On behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand, I desire to extend to the Government and peoples of the U.S.S.R., on the occasion of their national day, a cordial message of congratulations and to express profound admiration and gratitude for the magnificent achievements of the Russian forces in their fateful struggle against the formidable might of Nazism and Fascism. The people of New Zealand, in common with the other United Nations, are fully aware of the tremendous sacrifices and the weight of the savage onslaught which the peoples of the Soviet Union have endured. The grim determination and desperate valour of the defenders of Stalingrad are, they know, only symbolic of the heroic spirit with which the Russian peoples are defending (heir beloved land. With this spirit and this achievement the free peoples of the United Nations are strengthened and inspired. In honouring the U.S.S.R. to-day, the New Zealand people unite in expressing their fervent wish that the growing might of the United Nations will effectively assist the Russian people in freeing their soil from the invader’s grasp and achieve an early and conclusive victory over the common enemy.” The Prime Minister has sent a cablegram to the High Commissioner in London informing him that £25,000 (N.Z.) has been lodged by the New Zealand National Patriotic Fund Board to be remitted to him for providing medical aid to Russia. The money jS from the All Purposes Appeal for various patriotic purposes. GOVERNMENT FUNCTION MR FRASER’S TRIBUTE TO ' RUSSIA (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Nov. 8. Russia’s national day, commemorating the establishment of the Soviet Union, was marked in Wellington yesterday by a morning tea function arranged by the Government and attended by consular and other representatives of the United Nations, as well as representatives of the New Zealand Legislature, the armed forces, etc. , _ The Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, who was the principal speaker, referring to amateur strategists, said that if men were appointed to control the United Nations’ war effort then at least they should wait to see the development of their plans. “I can say this from my own knowledge of the mind of Mr Churchill and from my discussions with President Roosevelt,” Mr Fraser said, “that there has been, is, and will continue to be, the strongest determination to strike so that Russia can be helped.” . , . Mr Fraser also referred to the rapidly-increasing equipment of the United Nations, and said as an example of this that the New Zealand Division had gone into the vital battle in Egypt more powerfully armed than any panzer division. The resistance of Russia had been something approaching a miracle. Mr Fraser said, and the other United Nations were to-day paying a welldeserved tribute to a great nation, which would play its full part in bringing about a great victory for freedom. In honour of Russia’s national day the flag of the Soviet Union was flown on Saturday on two of the flag poles of the Chief Post Office and the New Zealand Ensign on two other flag poles. Flags were also flown on other Government buildings and on the Town Hall.