AID TO RUSSIA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25625, 28 August 1944, Page 3

AID TO RUSSIA

Sir,—The following extract from the June number of the Navy, the official organ of the Navy League, will np doubt be interesting to some people!—"The amounts actually conveyed by the Arctic route to Russia are staggering. Over 5000 tanks, over 7000 other motor vehicles, hundreds of guns and millions of rounds of ammunition, as well as 7000 aircraft, make up the tale of actual war material. Besides that, nearly £40,000,000 worth of raw materials, £20,000,000 worth of machinery, including tools, £7,000,000 of foodstuffs, and over £3,000,000 worth of medical supplies have been delivered." These figures were given by the Imperial Prime Minister, Mr Churchill. Is this what Mr P. Neilson, M.P., calls “ a small

amount ” ? 1 Give honour where honour is aue.—l am, etc.. Loyalist. August 23.

Sir,—'" Loyal N. Zedder,” seems to have little idea of the magnitude of the fighting which has taken place on the Eastern Front during the last three years. He would have us believe that the great, terrible German army was defeated chiefly by material imported into Russia by convoy. Do not let us delude ourselves; the guts of the German army were torn out by thousands upon thousands of first-grade bombing and fighting planes, and heavy tanks and guns produced in the giant factories of the Soviet Union. In June, 1941, the Nazis smashed into Russia with their heads reeling with the intoxication of victory, sure of their invincibility with the backing of vassal cannon fodder and all European industry. And now they are reaching for the ropes, punch-drunk before Warsaw and East Prussia, awaiting the knock-out blow, which is at hand. A miracle? A caprice of history? No; it is foresight, Leninist foresight, Stalinist foresight, leadership, and determination that brought into being a modern and established industry in the U.S.S.R.. and engineers and builders of machines to man it. It is this, together with the ardent patriotism of the Soviet commonwealth of nations, that has saved the world from the Gestapo. Even though the convoyed material to Russia is only a niouse compared to the elephant of Soviet output, it has given the Red army added confidence to know that their reserves of material were being augmented by Allied industry.—l am, etc., «Hitler Kaput.” August 22.