THE WAR IN REVIEW
THE WAR IN REVIEW FAR-REACHING AGREEMENTS on the prosecution of the war and the enforcement of the peace— agreements which Secretary of State Gordell Hull asserted will shape the course of the...
...Thus, the New York Times correspondent in Berne, Switzerland, wrote that reports from the Reich told of he German people's deep pessimism over the outcome of the war and their open defiance of Hitler...
...THE WAR IN REVIEW FAR-REACHING AGREEMENTS on the prosecution of the war and the enforcement of the peace— agreements which Secretary of State Gordell Hull asserted will shape the course of the world for many years to come—emerged dramatically this week from Moscow following the historic conference in which Hull, British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, Soviet Foreign Commissar Vyacheslav M. Molo-tov, and the Chinese ambassador to Russia participated...
...We are unlikely to meet much desire for democracy in the countries liberated from the German yoke," the article asserted...
...FIVE...
...We will be confronted then with primitive and extreme feelings, with what we would call communism, on the one hand, and rightism, on the other...
...Reuter's, 'he British news agency, reported that one of its correspondents in Europe had learned that "far-reaching changes inside Germany within the next two weeks affecting the entire war situation" are expected...
...Although the reports were considerably discounted in some circles as another attempt of Nazi Propaganda Minister Goebbels to encourage Allied complacency, many reliable observers were giving them currency...
...FOUR...
...Russian troops, battling in the Dneiper bulge to pinch off a huge German force, were meeting with savage resistance from Nazi reserves reported to have been rushed to the front from points in Western Europe...
...That after the termination of hostilities they will not employ their military forces within the territories of other states except for the purposes envisaged in this declaration and after joint consultation...
...That appeared to be the only interpretation of use of military forces "for the purposes envisaged in this declaration and after joint consultation...
...TWO...
...MacArthur Challenges Jap Navy Meanwhile, it was apparent that the course of the war in the Southwest Pacific was giving Tokyo cause for grave concern...
...The Japanese Diet, meeting last week, heard Emperor Hirohito describe the war situation as "truly grave...
...That their united action, pledged for the prosecution of the war against their respective enemies, will be continued for the organization and maintenance of peace and security...
...For months Berlin has been slyly "denying" that negotiations were underway with Russian representatives for a settlement of the two countries' differences, but Swedish writers returning to Stockholm from Germany this Fall have insisted that the so-called "Goeb-bels-inspired rumors" were founded on concrete attempts by Nazi Foreign Minister Ribbentrop to reach an agreement with the Kremlin...
...Action in the Pacific area this week seemed to bear out the warnings of the Japanese spokesmen...
...That they recognize the necessity of establishing at the earliest practicable date a general international organization, based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all peace-loving states, and open to membership by all such states, large and small, for the maintenance of international peace and security...
...Mac-Arthur's headquarters announced that a bold invasion had been accomplished on Bougainville, cutting off the Japanese garrison from its supply base to the north and putting Allied fighting planes within 260 miles from the enemy's main base at Rabaul in New Britain...
...They want nobody to dictate their future to them, Allies no more than Germans...
...I will throw everything we have, including all my heavy bombers, against it," MacArthur asserted...
...The German position in the East has become so desperate, the dispatch declared, that drastic internal emergency measures are required and that important discussions in this connection are already underway in the Reich...
...Nor was there any mention of a Pacific settlement, and there was no indication at all that the Soviet Union is in any way committed to aid in the Anglo-American-Chinese war on Japan...
...Writing from Cairo in a special article copyrighted by the New York Herald Tribune, Sonia Tomara, special correspondent, described this growing admiration for the Russians as part of the class conflict which was already beginning and would flare into the open at the end of the war...
...Red Army Surges Westward Meanwhile, signs of disaster for the German forces in the Ukraine continued to mount as the Red Army smashed relentlessly westward...
...That they will confer and cooperate with one another and with other members of the United Nations to bring about a practicable general agreement with respect to the regulation of armaments in the post-war period...
...That for the purpose of maintaining international peace and security pending the reestablish-ment of law and order and the inauguration of a system of general security, they will consult with one another and as occasion requires with other members of the United Nations with a view to joint action on behalf of the community of nations...
...The fifth and sixth points of the joint declaration, taken together, seemed to indicate that the four powers planned possible use of "their military forces" for police duty if necessary to quell an aggressor nation...
...Famine Sweeps Bengal But it was not only in the Balkans where British and American prestige suffered this week...
...At mid-week Gen...
...That those of them at war with a common enemy will act together in all matters relating to the surrender and disarmament of that enemy...
...Officials of the All-India Congress Party charged that the epidemics sweeping the large cities and the lack of medicines and hospital facilities to check them were a result of official neglect of sanitary precautions and half-hearted handling of the situation by governmental authorities...
...SEVEN...
...Whether or not these reports of conditions within the Reich are entirely accurate, observers were almost unanimous in agreeing that decisions reached at Moscow would be a hard blow for the Nazi propagandists to parry...
...These victories, according to some reports, were adding immeasurably to Russian prestige in Europe, especially in the explosive Balkans...
...Eye-witnesses told of seeing hundreds of naked bodies lying dead in the streets, of the dumping of diseased corpses into canals and river channels, and of savage struggles between mothers and their children over a piece of rag with which to protect themselves from the cold winter winds that are now sweeping the northern provinces...
...That they will take all measures deemed by them to be necessary to provide against any violation of the terms imposed upon the enemy...
...Big Four Declaration Of the five documents released at Moscow the most important was the declaration in which the Big Four nations jointly declare: "ONE...
...In India, "brightest gem" in the British imperial crown and a land where thousands of American and British soldiers are stationed preparatory to embarking on the campaign against Japanese-held Burma, one of the worst famines of modern times continued to sweep the province of Bengal...
...His words were buttressed with a warning from Premier Hideki Tojo that the United States, "defeated in the beginning," was now "overcoming difficulties and dangers and the war is growing in intensity...
...Although there was specific mention of Austria— whose future as a "free and independent" state was viewed with favor—and of Italy—whose government was urged to reform and become more democratic "by inclusion of representatives of those sections of the Italian people who have always opposed fascism" —there was no mention at all in the agreements of the fate of such occupied or subjugated or enemy nations as Poland, Finland, Yugoslavia, Greece, the Baltic states, or Czechoslovakia...
...Dispatches this week said that an army officer will supervise a new program in which the military will distribute food and grain and will attempt to provide for shelter...
...Aware that this daring stroke would have to be countered by a strong Japanese move if the enemy position in the Southwest area is to be held, Mac-Arthur issued a challenge to the Japanese navy to come out and fight...
...If the Jap fleet comes out I will welcome it...
...Amid reports that 100,000 people were dying weekly India's new viceroy, Field Marshal Wav-ell, visited the stricken area this week in a belated survey to determine what is needed to check the ravages of the famine...
...THREE...
...Further to the south, the Russians were plunging ahead at a sensational rate and at mid-week threatened to close the last overland escape hatch for German forces in the Crimea...
...The four powers bound themselves, in a series of "agreements" and "declarations," to joint action to shorten the war, to exact unconditional surrender from their respective enemies, to police the post-war world in the period immediately following the end of hostilities, and to guarantee the enforcement of peace through the establishment of a world federation...
...Allied landings were carried out on islands in the northern Solomons group just south of the Bougainville where the enemy is estimated to have 40,000 troops garrisoned...
...Although only the politically naive would conclude that the Moscow decisions would obviate such an event, the conference agreements have blasted one of the Nazis' most powerful propaganda weapons— the threats of a separate Russian-German peace...
...From many stories I have heard from Europe, people over there have become grim and diffident...
...Crisis Reported In Germany The news of the historic Moscow decisions came at the end of a week in which an epidemic of reports from "inside Germany" stressed the "crumbling morale" of the German people and described the Nazi hierarchy as frantically striving to bolster the home front...
...SIX...
Vol. 7 • November 1943 • No. 45
