THE CHINA MAIL, MAY 1, 1941
CHINA MAIL
WINDSOR HOUSE
ITALIAN HOPES
From an extreme de- jection over Fascist de- feats the Italian public has suddenly swung, with the news of what German arms have accomplished in Libya and the Balkans, to a zenith of optimism. So high are the hopes in- duced by the Nazi war communiques that Mus- solini's kept
press has
found it necessary to put' in a word of caution. The Rome "Messaggero." for instance, warns its read- ̧ ers that wars have their ups and downs, and hence " it is "inopportune, impru- dent and harmful to abandon one's self to-day to fantastic forecasts on the duration of the war.'
This advice is excellent! on its face and is worth. our own heeding. But in- telligent Italians will pro-| bably discover in t also a cryptic suggestion that! their enthusiasm for Ger- man victories is misplac- ed; that Hitler's rescue of the country from disaster, if it eventuates, will not be the blessing they fore- see. And when one comes to think of it, what sup- port is there for Italian
This war, at the moment, joy, whatever the war's quite as much a war of nerves, of, outcome? Italy has be- you like, of morale and will
New
Is
power, as it is a war of combat.
SHINING THROUGH
Defeatism
By
come and, should Hitler it is important for Americans to Major George
win, will remain a Nazi, understand this, for in these fields province. Her empire, re- Axis guns.
we are the prificipal targets of the Reduced to funda- gardless of any nominal metals, the main Axis objective arrangement, will be in is to overwhelm Great Britain be- fore American help reaches such Nazi hands. Her vision of proportions that Britain cannot be
overwhelmed. Whatever tends to empire is doomed, in any impede American aid to event, but, should Hitler Britain, even for a day, is a de- be defeated, she would atite gain to Hitler and his asso-
riates.
offensive
are
morale against us, We On the downswing of psychological of
least regain her national| At the moment he has a favour- autonomy. Are we wrong able opportunity for a in supposing that such thoughts were uppermost a period in the mind of the author of the caution quoted?
*
THE SEA WAR
Fielding Eliot
hopes dashed, we have had bad
news, and we are very likely to get made to order for a major Ger- man propaganda effort, just as it is made to order for our own ap- | peasers and defeatists.
more bad news. It is a situation
desert, to which that of Cyrenaica
is a children's playground, while the crafty Wavell gathers his strength for a counter-blow and the British fleet ranges the Eas- tern sea. But suppose it were far Alexandria were worse; suppose taken, and Cairo, and the Canal itself - would the war be lost? This would be a far worse blow than the temporary loss of Greece --but again the answer is, most definitely not.
The gate to the Indian Ocean would remain locked at Aden, the load to which the Germans would find diffleu.t and dangerous and lung. The British fleet would still be far superior to anything the We shall certainly see a resur- Axis could hope to send into the gence of defentism, which the Red Sea or the Indian Ocean. In- Axis will reinforce by every deed, many ships might be re- means in its power. We shall be leased for service either in the
depression. First, we had a period told again and again of the invin- of good news--the deflance of Yugoslavia,
cibility of German arms, we shall the fail of Addis
be deafened with the cries of those Ababa, the battle of the Ionion Sea, the Russo-Yugoslav pact -
who insist that only a holocaust | and we then had the swift rever-
of American youth can ever stop Hitler, we shall be sneered at for sal brought about by the German advances in the Balkans and in and Greece, and cajoled by visions our promises of aid to Yugoslavia North Africa, the Russo-Japanese of peaceful adjustments with the pact and reports of increased Bri- "new order" in Europe and Bast tish shipping losses.
We have, in a word, had high
1
Asia, while we shall likewise be covertly or perhaps openly threat- ened with a Pacific war and the sinking of our ships in the Red Sea or the Indian Ocean.
In all this those of evil purpose
even will be aided and abetted by those
of faint heart.
Before the tumult and the shouting, therefore, let us for a moment examine quietly mors from which we are bidden the
Nazis Gains Not Decisive
Far East or the Atlantic. British prestige throughout the Moslem world would have been dealt a deadly blow, and the Axis might gain possession of the oil fields of Iruq, though not necessarily of But the navies pipelines in serviceable condition. still command the oceans of the of Britain would world, the supplies of Australia
and South Africa, of Canada and, above all, of the United States, would still flow toward the main British centre of resistance, the island of Great Britain,
While that Island holds fast, and can be supplied, Germany cannot win this war.
As for the Russo-Japanese pact, of freedom of action in the Far it may give Japan a greater sense
East, but what of the practical basis for this? It is most unlikely that very many troops can be re- is leased from Manchukuo; nor any appreciable change made in
naval situation, which
13
For the first time this year London has given us figures on the destruction of German submarines. They reveal that seventy-miralty ventures the hope four of these craft have that it is becoming been destroyed since the more vigorous, war started. At the begin-| But it is far from deci- ning of hostilities Ger- sive. The last published many had only seventy- weekly ship loss figure, to cower or to flee. one. No one outside Ger- 77,575 tons, emphasises many knows the rate of the mounting danger, for building; but replacement it is beyond any present
the The Germans have gained sut- of a whole under-water hope of replacement. Even cess in Greece and Yugoslavia. fundamental to any Japanese Germany is the master of all the thrust to the southward. It is just navy, both with boats and more alarming was the Balkan peninsular up to the fron- as easy to interpret this pact as crews, must have been Admiralty revision for the tier of Turkey. Suppose she went dictated by a Russia anxious to difficult. Moreover, the, week of March 16, which beyond, went into Turkey. Would have freedom of action in Europe. the war be lost? Most definitely It says nothing, nothing at all, British figure of German reached the staggering not. Germany has gained new of the cessation of Russian ald to loss is certainly not the sum of 146,098 tons. These strategic positions, at the cost of China, and it seems to be in direct greatly impairing the value of her contradiction to the famous trl- true total. Doubtless many meticulous revisions, re- Balkan sources of supply as partite alliance,
a policy of peaceful Under the tripartite pact, if ad depth bombs, shells and leased
ships against
trade, and she has added to her Germany becomes involved in war missiles from the air have known to have been at sea growing burdens, that of policing with a power not now belliger- -found their mark and left fail to report, show clearly a sullen, warlike and recalcitrant ent. Japan must aid her.
population of twenty-odd millions But under the Russo-Japanese no trace of the victims. that we have no disposi in country which historically has pact, in a Russo-German war Ja- From destroyed or cap- tion to conceal losses. been difficult it not impossible pan must remain neutral.
completely to conquer or control.. Let us think somewhat of these tured U-boats Britain has They show also that the The Germans have also gained matters when the cries are going taken 400 prisoners, in- submarine is still the certain successes in North Africa. up, as soon they will, that Japan They have advanced to the is now free to "threaten our in- cluding Commander Kret- gravest menace to Britain marches of Egypt. They have terests" and "drag us into war in schmer, the leading Nazi and to the whole policy garrison in Tobruk. They have ad- As a matter of fact we are the
partially surrounded the British, the Pacific Ocean. ace The hunt for a steal of aid-to-Britain to which vanced-positions-for-air-attacks only one of the thres great pow thy foe has not been un-America stands committs against Suez, But between them not now actually belligerent whi
and the Valley of the Nile lies the does in fact retain a considerable successful, and the Ad ed.
terrible expanse of the Libyan measure of freedom of action.
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