April 23.
While it is only natural that the greatest attention should be focussed upon what is happening in Greece, where the Germans are exerting every effort to rupture the Anglo-Greek lines, which they have been prevented from doing' up to the present, events elso-Where suggest that Hitler is proceeding with plan to engage the British at every possible point, Increasing credence is being given to reports that he is bringing additional pressure upon Spain formally to enter the Axis, as a prelude to an attack upon Gibral lar, oF in an effort to close the straits if it is found impossible to capture the Rock. Up to the present General Franco has stead {asily refused to side actively with the Axis, chiefly because his country, poverty-stricken als a result of the civil war, is sadly in need of the food and other assistance which can only be obtained by maintaining the strictest neutrality. "Hitler has several times endeavoured to drag General Franco at the wheel of his chariot, but et Cauditlo has suecessfully withstood all blandishments and pres sure realizing fully what was in the best Interests of the people over whom he rules. Entry of Spain into the war, or even the granting of permission for German troops to eros Spanish sell from occupied France to the-environs of Gibraltar would mean the Inclusion of Spain in the British blockade with all the misery that that would entail for the Spaniards, is quite obvious thatit the Germans dia succeed in securing control of the western entrance to the Mediterranean they would at tone and the same time be in a position to cut off the routing of British supplies through that sea, and acquire a further base from which to threaten the alternative line to April 24.
Elsewhere in this issue there appears a Reuter cable describing the dramatic change whic is coming over opinion in the United Slates, and the growing support for recent utterances of the President relative to the production and despatch of war materials and other assistance to Great Britain and her Allies. Recognition by important American Journals of the fact that the battle of the Atlantic is becoming: America's battle, of the further fact that the United States are al ready to all intents and purpose in the war: is most significant. So also is the splendid response of American doctors to the Red Cross} appeal for volunteer medical men to proceed to Britain to fill the gaps left by the entrance of so many British doctors into military service. Nothing could be more splendid, oF appeal so vividly to the imagination, and there is not a British heart which is not filed with gratitude for this striking demonstration of American willingness to assist, and the strength of the common bonds which bind the two Powers together.
Tt has been made quite plain in the United States that, if the German blockade'
found able to prevent American supplies) reaching the British Isles, the United States! navy will convoy the ships carrying them, [Should the German submarines and aeroplanes seek to interfere with them, the Americans will shoot, and they then will be as much in the war as any other people the Germans have attacked. The world will probably soon see that the enormous resources of the English speaking peoples, pooled for a common purpose, will not be denied that victory without whea they must cosse to exist. What has happened up to the present amount to but preliminary skirmishes in the huge struggle which is toward. And the man who has done most to bring that about is Hitler himself. It is he who has brought the United States into the war. Confident of his ability to gain the day Hitler has at no time disguised his ultimate purposes, and the Amer-can public have been brought to a realization of the fact that a German victory over the European democracies would mean the disappearance of the last defence between themselves and the iniquitous system which that evil man is seeking to impose upon the world, "We shall not know entirely," remarks the "Saturday Evening Post," "until we read the history of that which is now hidden. We are in it. We are in it all together. Rightly we may say that we got into it, and we: could have been got into it only because the Great majority of us want one thing, no mat-
India and the East vid the Cape of Good fir how violently: we. muy" have disagreed Hope. The suggestion that the German effort might be limited merely to the stablishment of artillery forees near Gibral-about the way of getting it.
We want a world without Hitter.
But even more is wanted. The world at large desires that tar would not relieve Spain of the Inconvenience of the British blockade, for it Is quite obvious that to permit passage of German troops through Spain for the purpose of attacking a British possession could be nothing Toss than an abandonment of neutrality, and active participation in the struggle on the side of the Axis, The situation in Rumania is still somewhat obscure, There are reports that there is increasing unrest in that country, owing to the insistence on the part of the Tron Guard that Rumania should take steps to regain from Hungary that territory which she was forced to cede under pressure from Hitler. The latter, it is reported, threatens to withdraw hhis support from General Antonescu, the Rumanian Premier, if this is persisted in, while at the same time he has refused permit Rumania to occupy part of defeated Yugoslavia, On the other hand it is also reported that, should the Antonescu Govern-mont fall, Russia would move into Rumania and, Moldavia. Tt is doubtful whether any such development would follow the collapse of General Antoneseu's administration, for riy such action by Russia would invite hostile action by Hitler, and perhaps give him the excuse for his long contemplated drive into the Ukraine. With the defeat of Yugoslavia the Jast vestiges of Russian influence in the Balkans—and for that matter Italian as \well—disappeared, and the Soviet may very well chose to wait until the end of the war before endeavouring to re-establish it, This Rumanian matter clearly indicates the uneasy time Hiller is already having to maintain control over men of his own ilk though animated with rather different. national conceptions. What then must be the not only shall Hitler and all he stands for be wiped out, but that Germany, no matter under what leadership, shall not again be allowed to plunge such vast areas into the maelstrom of war, that no one country shall ever again be allowed to challenge the peaceful existence of nations who only desired to work out their own destinies. This war cannot, and will not be terminated until those two principal war aims have been achieved.
That can, and will be done by the Brit-Ish with the vast material resources of the United States at their disposal. It is clear that Hitler is now in search of similar resources.
Hence his adventure into southeastern Europe and possibly into Asia Minor. It remains to be seen whether he can bring his plans, to maturity.
There is a distinct probability that he may not, for the more he increases his lines of communication, the more vulnerable he becomes, for those lines stretch out over territories whose inhabitants loathe Hitler and all his works. For the British it remains for them to possess their souls in aticnce.
Some months may yet have to be Passed before the full weight of American assistance makes itself felt But the time will come when the United States having equipped Britain with the tools she wants, the latter will be able'to assume that offend give which, it is hoped, with bring a swift termination to the war.' General Smuts has predicted victory within a year or eighteen months. That may be somewhat optimistic, but whether it take one year, or two or even three," Britain with the assistance of the United, States will see this thing through to the achievement of the first war aim,—the destruction of Hitler, position in those countries at present under the German jackboot, who loathe their oppressors and are only awaiting the day when it will become possible to turn on them and mete out the justice which they deserve German reports of sabotage in the occupied countries clearly indicate that the people there may be oppressed for the moment but that they. have not been cowed or subdued. Each extra country which Hitler overruns provides fresh trouble for him, and should endeavour to force his will upon Spain
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.