MIGHTY BLOWS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 May 1944, Page 3

MIGHTY BLOWS

ABOUT TO BE STRUCK BY THE UNITED NATIONS LEND-LEASE & OTHER FACTORS ROOSEVELT SETS FACTS BEFORE CONGRESS (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, May 22. “The United Nations forces are now about to strike new and mightier blows at Nazi-occupied Europe from offensive bases in the , west, south and east,” says Presid- I ent Roosevelt, in a letter to Con- : gress, accompanying his 15th Lend- i Lease report. He intimates also j that now Soviet blows will be timed with advances elsewhere. The Lend-Lease aid report says a total of 24,224.806,000 dollars (over 6,000 million pounds) had been reach; ed by April 1. I In his letter, President Roosevelt draws a striking picture of the forthcoming operations. He says: “The fighting men'of many nations have been banded together- in combined operations. They are armed with the most powerful weapons that the combined resources and ingenuity of the United Nations can produce. They are ready to bring to bear their strength and to continue the crushing process against the Nazi and German war machine. Our American forces go into battle side by side with the men of Britain, France, Norway, Poland, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands and our other allies. Warships flying many United Nations flags will escort the fleets. The R.A.F. will join with the United States Army Air Forces in blasting paths for our troops and protecting them from air attack.” Adding that the United Nations fighting partnership had been made far stronger- by lend-lease and reverse lend-lease and that “decisive battles are ahead,” President Roosevelt continued: “Now, more than ever, it is vital to our own American Army, Navy and Air Forces, as well as to the forces of other- United Nations, that we continue to provide our fighting partners with the additional war supplies they need to supplement their own resources. Only by uniting our full strength with the full strength of otherfree peoples of the world have we moved from rhe defensive to the offensive and from defeats to victories. By maintaining our unity now, we shall certainly achieve final victory. By continuing oux- unity after- the war, we can assure a peace in Which mankind can live, work and worship in peace, freedom and security.”