VICTORY PARADES ARE PREMATURE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 219, 16 September 1943, Page 4

VICTORY PARADES ARE PREMATURE

THE holding of Victory Parades at the present time in order to celebrate the signing of an armistice with Italy has not been welcomed by the community. The suggestion which the Prime Minister advanced was not well received and this attitude can be understood. It does not arise from a lack of appreciation of the significance of the Fascist co-operation with the Axis and of the liquidation of that co-operation, but from a general appreciation of the situation as a whole. The campaign has moved forward since the El Alamein engagement with remarkable precision and the taking of Sicily proved to be unexpectedly easy; but the lack of the wifi to war in the Italian people has been a very important factor in the campaign and this fact has been recognised. Generally there is no feeling of elation that the Italians ceased fighting as soon as they had the chance to do so, but rather a sense of compassion for a people which had been led into ways not of their own choosing. The Germans have been severely handled in Russia and their cities have been bombed, and these successes are regarded as victories over a stubborn foe who must be crushed. The big task still lies ahead, and, that being appreciated by the public, the general feeling that it will be as well to wait until the hard nut has been cracked before rejoicings are staged on a large scale proves that the public has a more realistic appreciation of the present situation than the Prime Minister.