To the Editor of the "Nonru-Cuma Dai News" other; still if T turn-out to be wrong, Sin—One, guess is as good as an-the worst T can be accused of Is wishful. thinking, and wishful thinking is not a crime. If you have faith, boundless, absolute faith in a cause, but have no chance to act, then all you can do is to think, and it is but natural' that your thoughts will be always along. the same line, Ever since Germany has attacked Russia, T have an idea on my mind which does not et me rest, I firmly believe the German attack was not In the original schedule of the Nazis for this year, it had not been planned far abend like all their other "moves, and therefore it has even less chance to succeed than' would have had otherwise, shall attempt to prove this contention by examining the salient features of the last six months, and if anyone were to say that all that was but camouflage, T would counter that if' so, the Germans have certainly exceeded any known limits of a diversion, and, more important, these manoeuvres could at best have Tulled the Russians into a slightly Increased sense of false security, but could not possibly have caused any movement of Russian troops. away from. the German border.
1941 Germany has made the following five conspicuous moves:
First, the Balkan War. The object of this' was certainly not to extricate Mussolini from his Albanian dien! tos, because a humiliated aly, with cap in hand, suits Hitler much better than "a partner of anything like equality, "As we remember by the slow infliration. into Bulgaria. the protracted negotiations with Yugoslavia, his campaign required " pre-aration of several months. and would seem therefore that as a goal it must have had something bigger than the mere possession of those barren mountain. ranges. Let {t be borne in mind that Germany, with eud any war at all. was getting out Yugoslavia everything that unhappy country could yield. and therefore, as history has always shown, any war was inevitably bound fo decrease the flow of supplies. Thus the purpose of the Germans could not have concerned the Ttalians {n Albania, or the chastisement of the Yugoslavs, but must have been look-int somewhere far more ahead, the second important event of this year was the recapture of Cyrenaica, 'This was rather a risky business, involving the transport of a fair-sized mechanized army through water where the British fleet was, or could at' any moment have been' supreme, Carefully calculating people like the Germans do not ordinarily take such risks. just for the sake of Mussolini's face, or a couple of desert villages. As with the Balkans, also this move nut have hail much broader seep The third prominent feature of this year was the relentless bullying of the Vichy government. The Nazis wanted something big, but evidently did not get it. "What might it have been? Anyway, nothing even remote-connected with a possible action against Russia. I advance the guess that it was mostly. or all about Syria, 'The fourth. and I am purposely not following any strict, chronological order, was Crete. It is true that the 'Nazis' did succeed in takeing this island, but it is none the Yess true that doing so they incurred again serious risks. and paid a heavy price in men and material, Why did they do it? Where lies the great importance of this island? As a link ina chain of large conception, surely it can very important, bub as a more fumping-off ground' for a few planes to bomb Alexandria, especially at a time when the Nazis appear to have hardly any planes left to spare even to bomb London. 1 do not think it warranted go much trouble, The ftth, and according to my mind the most Important event was the miscarriage of the Iraq plot. which marked the frst very real turning polit of this war. Here we have seen for the first, time the Germans not getting what they have Been out for. They fifth-columned that Little country to a nicely, but apparently "forgot, thab they were dealing with Asiatics. and thus their usual ultra-eM™eleney went astray. The local Quisling probably thought the situation ripe for a show-down long before he should have done so. and prematurely climbed out of the gutter, and thus gave the British a hanes to settle with him in time. Tt easy to see how different the situation would have been, had Iraq Fevolted only after the occupation of Crete was completed, and the Germans were all set for the next move towards Syria, All of these five major events of this year seem unfailingly to point in one direction, fo the Middle East, with Its all, the Suez Canal, and India. beyond. A. grandiose stage setting, to build which took the better part of half a year, and still, the moment before curtain the actors Seem to have thought it over and walked off to play in far off Russia. May they have the same success there as the other Corporal had some time ago.
Posomvus 13. Kobe, June 27, ive glorious music and play tt now PSI just ove Tehatkovsky's "1212."
gvery day! somolimes especially far {he Benet of tyr Riad welhbours.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.