TE AWAMUTU COURIER Printed on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays MONDAY, 9th FEBRUARY, 1942 IMPLACABLE HATRED

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4534, 9 February 1942, Page 4

TE AWAMUTU COURIER Printed on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays MONDAY, 9th FEBRUARY, 1942 IMPLACABLE HATRED

WHILE the great Russian counteroffensive is steadily forging westward, it is yet too early to assume that the pressure on Hitler’s armies .in this theatre of the war can be continued and eventually pressed home to the point of crushing them in an overwhelming defeat. Winter campaigning conditions, in a season accounted the severest experienced all over Europe for a century, have favoured the Russians, who are making the most of their advantage. When things were going the other way, there were many who feared a collapse of the Russian resistance and the possibility of a German-dictated peace with the Soviet, leaving Hitler master of immense territory and resources for carrying on the war. Now that the tide has turned, Russian pressure, if maintained, may eventually compel Hitler to seek ways and means of calling off the war with the Soviet Republic. There is one factor in the situation that would appear definitely to rule out any prospect of negotiation between Hitler and the Kremlin, and that is Stalin himself. The Soviet Premier is an absolute dictator. More than that, he has been credited by Sir Stafford Cripps, lately British Ambassador irr Moscow, and others in a position to appraise the facts of the Russian situation, with strategical ability of a very high order. Lastly—and this is of great psychological significance—he is remorseless and implacable in his proclaimed determination to avenge his country—and himself—for the treachery of Hitler The diagnosis of history on the backstage influences in the Russo-German war will possibly reveal that it was this factor that supplied the dynamic of the present Russian offensive. This is strongly suggested in an article written for the “American Magazine” by Mr Harry Hopkins, President Roosevelt’s special envoy, on his return from Moscow after a four-hour interview with Stalin. When Hitler invaded Russia, he relates, he did so without a word to Stalin, not a hint. In Moscow, in the Kremlin, this aroused a hatred of Hitler that nothing but his death could lessen. As for Stalin himself, Mr Hopkins’s impression of the Soviet leader’s reaction to the mention of his archenemy is significant: '

For Hitler (says Mr Hopkins) he had more than the anger he would necessarily have for a man who had double-crossed him; it was a personal hatred that I have seldom heard expressed by anyone in authority. I don’t want to ovei-dramatise the scene; I’m not at all sure that I can. But the cold, implacable hatred he has for the German Fuehrer was clearly evident. Stalin’s huge hands halfclenched. I think that Joseph Stalin would have liked nothing better at that moment than to have had Hitler sitting where I sat.

Here we have the picture of a leader consumed with a fierce desire and determination to exact a terrible retribution from one who, while professing friendship and loyalty to his agreement, attempted to stab him in the back; a leader, too, armed with absolute authority and immense resources for pursuing his objective. Twice during the interview this subject came up. On the second occasion:

“We Russians shall win this war,” said Stalin, leaning forward, his hands flat upon his desk. “The battle front will remain west of Moscow. Russia will not fail. Russia is huge. She is inexorable. Russia is fighting—for Russia. She will not again be enslaved. Once we trusted this man” . Hitler again. I hope says Mr Hopkins, never to be hated as Stalin hates Hitler. His hands seemed to feel for something. We sat in silence until he relaxed again.

These two scenes from a remarkable interview would suggest that as long as Stalin is master of the situation in Russia any attempt on the part of Hitler and his associates to drive a wedge between the Soviet and her allies, or to worm any kind of peace at all from him would be doomed to complete failure.