DAY BY DAY

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLXII, Issue 15241, 6 January 1943, Page 2

DAY BY DAY

A REVIEW OF THE WAR NEWS. The capture of Mosdok, “the gateway to the Grozny oilfields” is regarded with very much satisfaction in Russia and the importance oi the gain cannot be over-stressed. In tno Caucasus, tli© advance on NalcniK imperils many German divisions. The Red Army Generals’ strategy has proved amazingly successful and although in some sectors the progress is necessarily slow, there is no sign yet of Nazi counters holding up the general advance. Press opinion in Britain is perturbed nt the tardiness of tlie attack in Tunisia where, it is reported, the enemy are fast building up strong defences and obtaining reinforcements.

Rommel’s expected stand is to be made at Wadi Zemzem some 170 miles east of Tripod in a wide watershed. Parallel lines of defence are being prepared but possibly thit> movement may merely be a delaying in co-operabion with the Nazis at Tunis to whom time means everything. It is indeed encouraging to hear that the U-boat menace is being tackled in an appropriate mainiei. The shipping problem is, wither t doubt, st«ll acute but the cost in submarines for the resultant loss oi ships can hardly be a paying proposition to Germany, liqb in the money sense but in the loss of trained under-water personnel. Sana 11 an da is being .‘softened by the Allied air-forces in readiness lor the final attack on the remaining Japanese forces in Papua. General MacArthur appeal's to be confident that enemy resistance will be futile but both Australian and American opinion regards the concentration < i enemy shipping near Rabaul with anything but equanimity Coinciding with Mr Cuitil's views, many Ameriwitli Mr Curtin’s views, many Anienis vital if the Japanese ai'e to be finally ejected from South-easter 1 Pacific waters.