"The signing of an Anglo-Russian mutual assistance pact, in which it is stipulated that neither of the contracting parties shall negotiate for, or conclude an armistice, or peace with Germany except by mutual agreement, and providing that each shall extend to the other full military and economic &ssistance, loses none of its significance coming as it does on the heels of unconfirmed German reports of further military gains. It is generally conceded that if the German claims are substantiated the position of the Russian armies will indeed be precarious, but there is nothing at present to suggest that they will not be able to continue the struggle, and keep large German forces fully occupied in European Russia, and thus make a considerable contribution to final victory. If the Russians can continue to absorb heavy German blows, maintaining a front regardless of where it is established, the mutual assistance pact may indeed prove to be a most valuable document. Hitler is fighting already on two fronts, True, the front in which he is engaged with Great Britain is at present in the air, but the fact is that he has two powerful, hostile nations to the east and west, and while the nature of their blows may for the time being be different they are directed towards one end,—the destruction of the German forces.
That for the moment can be approached from. the British point of view by the anni-pilation of the industrial centres of Germany in an effort to destroy her ability to wage long-two-front war and counter-blockade. The time will come when added to that, Great Britain will be able to invade the Continent. That will indeed be an enormous undertaking, vastly different from those operations which were possible when Great Britain and France had complete control of the Channel, and the large amount of shipping necessary to convey the British troops across the seas, and maintain them on land afterwards, may mean that such a move will have to be delayed until the Battle of the Atlantic has been brought completely under control. There are signs that things are moving in that direction, but, when the safety of British shipping against the German counter-blockade is assured, the possibility of a successful invasion of the Continent will be considerable.
It is to be regretted that when there was a mutual assistance pact between Russia, France and "Czechoslovakia it was not possible to have included Great Britain as a party. Mutual suspicions in Westminster and Moscow provided a suitable and fertile field for German intrigue, and until Hitler, with his customary treachery, attacked Russia there was no particular disposition on the part of the Kremlin to listen to the per-Suasion of Sir Stafford Cripps, British Ambassador to Russia, whose efforts to reach an understanding with the Soviet Government for a long time proved so unavailing. It is idle to speculate now, in view of the facts, as to what would have happened if a four-part mutual assistance pact had existed when Hitler invaded Poland, though it is safe to venture the guess that the course of the war would have been very different from what it turned out to be. Indeed, there might have been no war at all, for it would have ensured Hitler having to do the very thing he dreaded, and fight on two fronts as imperial Germany had to do in the last war.
Another interesting feature of this new agreement is that in itself it is a promise that no matter what happens with regard to the Stalin line the Soviet will continue the struggle; that over the vast plains of Russia the Germans will have to continue the fight. and pay as heavily in the future as they have already done in the past for the gains in territory they may make. The fact is that in attacking fortified positions the attackers must expect to sustain very heavy casualties, and the Russian claim that the Germans prior to this latest offensive had suffered a million casualties does not, in the circumstances, seem unlikely. What the Germans are suffering now, cannot, naturally, be ascertained, but it may very well be that this mutual assistance pact, and the damage which is being done to the German war machine will in the long run render the present German successes Pyrrhic indeed.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.