THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Thursday, August 12, 1943. THE POLITICAL FRONT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25302, 12 August 1943, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Thursday, August 12, 1943. THE POLITICAL FRONT

The fact that fresh demands have lately been made, by sections of the press in both Great Britain and the United States, for political unity on the part of the Allies, almost suggests that Mr Churchill’s decision again to cross the Atlantic was anticipated. When the RussoPolish dispute was at its height, in May last, it was widely regarded as a triumph for Dr Goebbels, who, it was asserted, had probed the weakest spot in the Allied alliance and had succeeded in creating a breach in the United Nations’ front. The Economist, indeed, went so far as to say that issues far more serious than those between Poland and Russia were at stake, involving a crisis of confidence between the Great Powei’s themselves. “ The course of the war,” said the Economist, “so far has not removed the old, deep-i’ooted, almost pathological suspicion entertained by the Soviet Government of the outside world. This suspicion—that 1 capitalist, imperialist ’ Britain and the United States may still sell Russia down the river—lies behind Russia’s disregard of the coui'tesies of alliance by her unyielding insistence on getting recognition for the 1941 frontiers now.” The Russians, the Economist concluded, wei-e more likely to make concessions in the interests of solidarity if they believed that solidarity to exist, and it was the task of Britain and the United States to convince them that it did exist. It would be wholly untrue to assert that the most earnest attempts in this direction have not been made from both Washington and London. The Grand Alliance was formed on the basis of political understanding between the three Great Powers concerned, having as its major and unequivocal purpose the defeat and destruction of totalitarianism in Europe. To that end the Governments in Moscow, London, and Washington pledged themselves not to consider any proposal for the making of a separate peace with either of the European Axis partners; and to the end that Russia might be aided in her tremendous struggle with Germany, after Hitler had launched his treacherous attack in the east, British and American equipment and supplies were poured into Russia with all possible speed and in swiftly-increasing quantities. Russia, however, has never been satisfied with the scale of Allied intervention in her fight against Germany. The early clamour for a second front in Europe showed this, and there have been pointed indications from Moscow that until that demand is met by the actual breaching of Hitler’s fortress lines m Western Europe proper, the pledge of mutual assistance will, in the Russian judgment, not become fully effective. It seems as profitless to argue the merits of second-front theories at this stage of the war as it was a year ago. Russia has admittedly shown superb military competence and resilience not merely in holding the repeated German assaults, but in involving the Nazi Command in what is now assuming the proportions of a final exhaustive campaign. But her western Allies have not been idle during the prolonged period of crisis in the east. Bomber Commands offensive against the German war machine has achieved results of an importance so far-reaching that they must contribute in vast measure to the eventual outcome, while in Africa and the Mediterranean the enemy has suffered such heavy reverses that the land war is already brought to the verge of Germanoccupied Europe. The war’s turning point has, in fact, been passed, and the stage is surely set for the last act in the European drama. It would be a political disaster of the first magnitude if solidarity were in any way -threatened now by differences of view between the Allied Powers, and it may be hoped that the News Chronicle does no more than express a perhaps pardonably anxious opinion when it says that “Britain and the United States have so far failed to convince the Russians that they are fighting for the same things as the Allies. Over-emphasis may have its uses, when an important meeting between the Allied leaders is in prospect. The present meeting between Mr Churchill and President Roosevelt, like that one which preceded the invasion of Sicily, is certain to have resounding consequences. To what extent the Russian Government will be interested in the conversations is not as yet clearly indicated. But there is good reason to assume that Mr Stalin’s views will find expression, for the usually wellinformed New York Times anticipates that one of the purposes | of the discussions will be -to seek a more realistic agreement with Russia on all major points of interest. That would pre-suppose a very wide order of reference indeed, with agreement as to the future means to victory at the end of it. Anything less than such a sequel, as the New York Times has plainly hinted, might be insufficient to thwart Nazi efforts to sow seeds of dissension among the Allies at a time when absolute political and military solidarity is vital.