WAR IN WEST

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25734, 4 January 1945, Page 4

WAR IN WEST

STRATEGY CRITICISED REPLY TO AMERICANS NEW YORK, Dec. 30. As the war in Europe drags on with the Germans showing no signs of a military collapse, criticism of Allied strategy, or, more precisely, the British and Russian contribution to it, is growing louder in the United States. This has become sharper in recent weeks as hints have been given from official sources that American casualties in France have been severe. The charge has been aired in .high levels in America, and it is an opinion widely held, that the reason for the unexpected prolongation of German resistance can be found in the Russian Balkan campaigns and Britain’s operations in Italy, Albania and Greece. Many newspaper commentators have not hesitated to use the most forthright language when expressing this view, but more thoughtful and informed observers are now beginning to point out many factors contributing to the Allied military in. Europe. Among these is the Christian Science Monitor’s noted correspondent, Joseph Harsch, who has published a spirited defence of -America’s allies. Failure to Appreciate Demands “ It is beyond doubt,” he says, “ that German resistance has continued longer than the Allied plans contemplated, but to suggest that the reason, primarily, is the dispersion of the British and Russian effort from the central task of defeating Germany reflects a failure to appreciate the global demands on the Allied war effort, and a too easy inclination to find 'fault “with what Britain .and Russia - have . done..-. “If there has been any departure from the-doctrine of the concentration of all possible power to hasten Germany’s defeat, it involves not so much the British and Russian campaigns as the Great American offensive in the Pacific, which consumed the equip- • ment and power that conceivably, by this time, might have ended German resistance. To attribute any blame to our two Allies, and even to imply that blame can be attached to anyone, is to ignore the many obvious factors of the general military situation. “ Known facts now point increasingly to the assumption that the Russians intended to drive straight through Poland in the summer, but suffered one of the worst military defeats of the war at the Vistula early in August. They have always, when stopped frontally.. sought a solution by a wide sweeping manoeuvre to the flanks. Was their left swing through the Balkans motivated by political considerations, as is so often charged, or a sound military manoeuvre arising from frustration On the main front in Poland? What Russia Lacks " Events increasingly suggest that, while it may have brought subsidiary political advantages to Russia, it was primarily a military manoeuvre. The same force being used in the Balkans, if applied to the Vistula line, might conceivably have broken the German front by this time, if It can be assumed that the Russians have the skill and equipment for. the frontal, positional warfare possessed by /the western Powers, but known facts do not support such an assumption. To the contrary, it is known that the Russians are deficient in engineering equipment for crossing rivers and have never shown either the skill or power in a frontal assault against strong positions which the British, American, and German Armies possess. “ The basic fact, about Russia’s strategy in the past year is that every effort was concentrated against Germany alone at the price of considerable American criticism for not engaging the second enemy in Asia, and that to-day almost the entire Russian Army is deployed'against the Germans in Eastern Europe. “As for Britain, there is little doubt that the Empire lifeline through the Mediterranean is the constant preoccupation of Empire strategy, but to suggest that this preoccupation contributed to longer German resistance is a tenuous argument. The Italian campaign continues to occupy the' remnants of 27 German divisions, and it is a source of satisfaction in higher Allied- quarters that this amount of German strength is contained in Italy.

Greece and Albania “ The British trobps committed to the Greek and Albanian campaigns originally totalled less than two divisions. Even this small diversion may hardly seem justifiable, but when the plans were made it could not be foreseen “that the. Germans would abandon the Lower Balkans without a fight. It is probable that if British troops had not been committed there the German retreat would have been slower and perhaps not have taken place. Moreover, the campaign helped to deprive the Germans of important raw materials in the Balkans. “In view of these facts, it would be seeking hard and. far for blame against an ally to attribute Germany s continued resistance to either the Russian or British campaigns. It would be more rational and plausible to recognise that at the time of the invasion- of Normandy the major campaign in the Pacific had been, decided on and that the decision predictated the assumption that Germany would, have been substantially defeated late in the autumn. , •• “China's increasing weakness suggests that a Pacific campaign, was imperative if the war aganjst Japan was not to lag dangerously. It was probably necessary and fully justified, and yet the fact remains that this major offensive in the Pacific is great strength from the Allied effort against Germany. If General Eisenhower possessed the shipping, landing craft, and extra divisions assigned to the Pacific campaigns the war m Europe might by this time be over “ The strategy of defeating Germany first was not adhered to rigidly to theend, but the reason for this can be found in the Pacific war and not the Balkans or Mediterranean, where the operations certainly contributed more to the defeat of Germany than they subtracted from it.” Political Chaos in Europe There is growing concern over the political developments in Europe. Tha New York Sun’s Washington correspondent, says that grave concern and pessimistic speculation are pervading Washington as political chaos—spreading over Europe—emphasises the discord of the three great Allied Powers and threatens to delayat culable cost of lives and blood the final collapse of Germany. The paper says: “Washington nourishes the growing realisation that Europe is already quarrelling over the division of political spoils winch have not been won and cannot be won until Germany has been brought to hebl. “ Observers here are disconcerted at the knowledge that the Communist Party in every liberated nation is the mainspring of the present political ferment, and are disturbed that Britain s policv is rallying new and popular support to the standards of the insurrectionists.”