LENGTH OF THE WAR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25301, 11 August 1943, Page 3

LENGTH OF THE WAR

OPTIMISM DEPRECATED COLONEL KNOX’S VIEWS (Rec. 7 p.m.) NEW YORK, Aug. 10. “ It is only foolish optimism to think that the war might end this year,” declared the Secretary of the Navy, Colonel Knox, when interviewed at Portland, Maine. “Such optimism,” he added, “is not at all useful. We have had minor successes so far. Sicily is only an outpost and its fall does not mean the end of the war. We still have to gain a foothold on the European Continent itself. In the South Pacific we have had success, but are still a great many miles from Tokio, our objective, and there is a lot of trouble in between.” The Director of the Office of War Information, Mr Elmer Davis, upon his return from a trip to England, Africa, and Iceland, told the press that the operations in the Mediterranean constituted a second front, and he predicted that a third front would be opened eventually. He said the reports that Hitler had been ousted from power were “ pretty dubious.” He held the opinion that it would make little difference except that “we would no longer have the advantage of Hitler's intuition.” Mr Davis declared that the bombing of Germany had an enormous effect in reducing production and breaking down morale, but air-power alone would not defeat Germany. He added: “ Nobody knows when the war will end, but it will not be until the mass of the German Army has been decisively defeated.”