The Timaru Herald THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 1943. WAR LEADERS MET AGAIN

Timaru Herald, Volume CLIII, Issue 22491, 28 January 1943, Page 4

The Timaru Herald THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 1943. WAR LEADERS MET AGAIN

JH E Axis, remembering the fruit of the meeting last June between President Roosevelt and Mr Churchill, will have good cause to be apprehensive about the outcome of the latest dramatic meeting at

Casablanca where the two leaders, and their military, naval and air advisers, reached decisions concerning the campaigns of the present year. The only consolation the Germans can find is in broadcasting their delusive view that the President and the Prime Minister met only because there is a rift in the relations between the two countries. The same construction could just as reasonably have been placed on the two meetings last year, but the Axis now knows to its cost that out of the meeting last June came the North African offensive which will ultimately lead the way to an Allied attack against the most vulnerable part of the Axis in Europe. The German and Italian people, if they are given anything approaching a proper account of the meeting, may wonder that President Roosevelt and Mr Churchill are able to set their place of assignation anywhere in the world. The leaders of Germany and Italy do not enjoy this freedom of movement. The best they can do is to undertake timid excursions to the Brenner Pass where they have a hasty conference and then leave lor their respective capitals. That the war leaders of Great Britain and the United States, accompanied by their operational chiefs, can go where they choose is not without symbolic significance. Only free men, completely trusting in the security that can be provided for them, could undertaken such a long journey. The stay-at-home dictators might like to travel, but if they did they would not be sure of the domestic changes which might occur during their absence. Place of Meeting

There are probably two reasons why North Africa was selected as the venue for this latest meeting. The first is that North Africa is the theatre from which the most spectacular developments in the European section of the war are likely to take place this year. The second is that a meeting on French territory should be welcome to Frenchmen who arestill in a position to take their rightful part in the war against the Axis. It has also been plain within the past few weeks that the general political situation in French North Africa has been anything but satisfactory. The Allies probably hoped that political issues would not obstrude into the campaign; they would not have done so if Allied progress had been rapid. Possibly it was thought that the Axis would have been defeated in Tunisia before it was necessary to reconcile the conflicting views of the French leaders. However, the optimistic expectation of an earlv finish to the campaign was not realised and there has been some conflict among the French leaders. British and American policy towards these French leaders has, no doubt, not run in a common channel. It is almost inevitable that this divergence should exist, for sectionally minded Frenchmen would have been doing their utmost to impress Britain and the United States with the rightness of their various attitudes. In these troublesome circumstances the only prudent thing to do was to work out a common policy towards French political issues and this end would have been admirably served by paying Frenchmen the tribute of holding consultations in their own territory. American official comment on the Casablanca meeting sets as one of the two achievements of the conference the military, if not political unity, cff the various French factions. General de Gaulle and General Giraud have met, and while there is nothing particularly enlightening in the statement issued after their meeting, it is fair to assume that they have at least agreed that the defeat of the Axis in North Africa is an essential preliminary to the resurgence of France. Who is to lead France after the war is for the present an irrelevant issue. J he first thing to be sure of is that Germany does not hold France itself in subjection, but that is what Hiller intends to do unless his plan is foiled. Axis Elimination

Tn a statement to correspondents after the meeting President Roosevelt said that he and Mr Churchill, and the- others participating in the conference, had reached the conclusion that world peace was obtainable only by the total elimination of the German and Japanese power, which meant an unconditional surrender of the Axis. “This,” he added, “did not mean the destruction of the population of Axis countries, but destruction of their philosophy of hate, fear and subjugation of others.” From this it can be gathered that the purpose of the Casablanca discussions was to find means of making sure that Axis power could be eliminated. For this purpose Allied resources are to be pooled on a world-wide basis, and Allied initiative throughout the world is to be maintained. Nowhere at the present time is the initiative out of the hands of the Allies, and at Casablanca plans have been completed for continuance and development of this striking policy. That end is to-be achieved by the furnishing of all possible aid to Russia and ■China, and by the planning of other operations which will bring the overthrow of the Axis group nearer. The Casablanca meetings will naturally he judged by their fruit, but that fruit is certain to have a galling taste for Hitler and Mussolini.