THE WAR NEWS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 60, Issue 4234, 22 January 1940, Page 5

THE WAR NEWS

SUMMARY OF THE SITUATION HELP FOR FINLAND Bitter winter weather and continued assaults by the Finns have played further havoc with the Russian Arctic campaign. In the Salla region (the northern part of Finland’s “waist”) 45,€00 Reds are reported to (he in full flight. It is stated in Finnish military circles that the narrow central area has been made safe! from invasion until the spring. Bitter fighting is still going on in svnat is described as the “bleak country south-east of Salla.” This is probably the Karelian marshland area into which the Russians retreated after their heavy reverse at Suomussalmi on January 9, when a division of 18,000 men was cut up and most of its equipment captured. There is little doubt now that support for the Finns has come from Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Italian and American fighting men, including airmen. This, it is claimed, has stiffened the opposition by neutral countries to the menace of the Soviet and Nazi diplomacy which was designed to prevent active participation by neutral countries. It cannot be expected that either of the countries named will officially take action, unless there is definite aggression by Germany or Russia against one or other of those countries.

New York advices indicate that money is being raised in America to assist the Finns by providing aeroplanes, munitions, arms and food. Reports received in London from Denmark refer to another air battle over the Island of Sylt (off the North Sea coast of Germany) together with naval gunfire, in the Heligoland area. At the moment of writing there is no official confirmation of this; furthermore the Air Ministry has denied that British aircraft have taken part in any action. It is officially stated in Belgium that “important and disquieting documents” were found in the possession of German airmen who made a forced landing recently in Belgian territory.

An important statement on AngloFrench co-operation in general supply but particularly in the manufacture of war material has been issued jointly by the British Minister of supply and the French Minister of Armament. This is an outcome of the French Minister’s visit to London, where he has been consulting with his vis-a-vis. An agreement has been reached under which the two nations will manufacture their war requirements in, as it were, one great, combined industrial group. Details of the interchange of patterns, jigs and other tools have been worked out.

This represents wartime co-opera-tion between two allied nations of an unprecedented nature and on a new scale of efficiency. Nothing approaching it was achieved in the Great War. In contributing his portion of the announcement the French Minister said:

“There are no longer any secrets or any cpllaboration ? I should prefer to speak of the French and British union.”

The Belgrade correspondent of “The Times” of London says that reports of the entry of German troops into Sovietized southern Poland have caused apprehension in eastern Europe. It is believed that Russia has agreed to hand over to Germany the oil-bearing area near Lwow in return for assistance with the Finnish campaign. “Such a development,” the message adds, “would change the balance of power in the Danube area and the Balkans overnight.”

What is more, the Russian-occu-pied buffer area between Germany’s slice of Poland and Rumania would largely disappear. In Septemlber, when the Red army marched to meet the Germans on Polish soil, it hurried across the southern area and seized the meagrely-developed Polish oilfields. This was welcomed as a move to block. Hitler’s eastward march. In the last three months the Nazis have been using their part of southern Poland as a so-called “Ghetto area”—a concentration area for Polish Jews.

A quick ending to the war was absolutely necessary if the Germans were to win, said the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Halifax, and now that that was impossible, by reason of the allied co-operation in opposition, victory for the Allies was assured, though it would entail a long and costly war, requiring every possible effort from the British and French. There was still to be feared frightful tactics that had not been employed in previous wars; but every endeavour would be made to circumvent such tactics.

Once again Mr Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, has succinctly summed up the naval situation, in which he points out that the magnificent defence put up by the Finns had exposed Russia’s inefficiency militarily, including also methods of air fighting. In characteristic vein, he says: “All can see now how Communism proves a nation to be base and abominable in war. What is left of civilised mankind could contemplate no more mournful spectacle than the reduction of this splendid race to servitude by the dull, bruitish force of overwhelming numbers.”