SINGLE PATTERN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 203, 28 August 1943, Page 4

SINGLE PATTERN

THE ALLIED STRATEGY BREAKING GERMANY’S ARMY Reed. 6 p.m. Rugby, 4ug. 26. An assurance that al! the Allied activities—British, American, and Russian—against Germany were “carefully co-ordinated in one grand strategic .concept,” was given by the Home Secretary, Mr. Herbert Morrison, speaking at Douglas, in the Isle of Man, to-day. “It would be misleading to assess the scale of effort of the Allied forces in recent operations ui the Mediterranean or the effect of these operations on the war against Germany as a whole merely by the number of divisions engaged on either side or by the casualties sustained.” he said. “On our pari, the effort should be reckoned not only by Lbe number of iront-line troops engaged, but. also in terms of men, women, vehicles, ani ships required to convey men and supplies to battle, including the part of the Navy and the R.A.F. in safeguarding the loi\ sea routes. But for our continuous pressure on the Axis southern flank, the bulk of tfir German resources wo had been pinning down in the Mediterranean would have been employed on their Eastern Front, where their army was engaged in mortal combat with the Russians.” The German army must be broken before the Nazi tyrants would collapse. and the overriding consideration which governed every decision and every action was to cause the maximum diversion of German strength and the maximum attrition to the German war macnine. Mr. Morrison said that air bojnljardment of enemy production, communications. and facilities, like amphibious operations, represented a far greater share of the war potential of the country delivering it, and resulted in very much greater strain on the war economy of the country suffering it. than might, appear from the comparatively small numbers of men engaged .’n actual operations. Morrison said that the I'onquest of Sicily resulted in the collapse nf Italian Fascism, which before long might lead to the collapse of Italy as the fighting partner of Germany, and from that “there may follow other consequences still wider and still more embarrassing to the German High Command.” “The pressure of the Russian army on the Eastern Front, the pressure of the British and American thrust from the south, and the weight of the British and American air attack on the German war machine, which were all carefully co-ordinated in one grand strategic concept,” he said, “will before very long, we hope, lead to conditions which will pave the way for the overthrow of the Wehrmacht. There is but one single pattern in the whole Allied strategy, and it is our intention that every man, woman and machine shall exert their whole force in the onslaught on the German citadel of Europe. It is the object of our strategy in the west, that we shall be able to play our part in bringing the war to an end at the earliest possible moment. “We shall shrink from no sacrifice and avoid no risk that will shorten the war provided we are satisfied that itreally will shorten the war and not lengthen it. It is the Government’s belief that when the whole pattern Is unfolded and we can look back upon it as a completed thing we shall find that the time has been well used and the resources well applied.”—B.O.W.