THE WAR IN REVIEW
THE WAR IN REVIEW THE HOPES of the plain people of the world that Allied leaders would soon find unity around a democratic program of war aims sagged this week to a new low when Prime Minister...
...The Prime Minister's failure to announce any program aimed to win over the war weary peoples of Europe was especially noticeable in view of this week's developments in the Balkans where, as he himself described it, "panic and frenzy" prevail because of the swift westward drive of the Red Army...
...Both offensive drive* were pushing ahead toward the other's supply bases...
...Lands Red Army Although predicting that an Allied victory was a certainty, Churchill refused to make any forecast as to when it could be expected...
...he nevertheless expressed confidence that "we shall be victors both at Anzio bridgehead and on the main front to the southward...
...It was surprising to note that he, like President Roosevelt, is paying verbal tribute to the theory that foreign policies are of little use unless based upon a strong domestic policy guaranteeing security and freedom at home...
...Joseph Stil-well, American commander in China, as to the significance of the Burma campaign...
...The hour of greatest effort is coming," he said, and that "to deceive and baffle the enemy there will be many false alarms, feints, and dress rehearsals...
...Meanwhile, British policy in Burma was causing concern over the outcome of the bitter fighting there, which Churchill praised as definitely establishing Allied superiority over the Japanese in jungle combat...
...Praising the Red Army's military accomplishments Churchill said, "The guts of the German army have been largely torn out by Russian valor and generalship...
...Supplementing this program, he saM, is a plan for extensions of national insurance and national health service...
...See the Cranston article from London on Page U.) Two Approaches "It involves a heavy eost upon the state but I don't think we can maintain our position in the postwar world unless we are an exceptionally well educated people and unless we can handle easily and with comprehension the problems ana inventions of the new scientific age...
...The whole domestic welfare program, he declared, may be all worked out before the end of the war...
...He renewed his pledge to join America in the war against Japan when Germany has been disposed of and disclosed that a powerful British fleet is stationed in the Indian Ocean to meet the Japanese fleet in the event it chooses to head that way...
...The British, on the other hand, look upon the Burma campaign primarily as a means of restoring, one by one, the jewels knocked out of the imperial crown when the Japs swept through the Southeast Pacific two years ago...
...The British, it was evident, were in disagreement with Lt...
...Asserting that the Japanese are "showing signs of great weakness," the British leader said he did not believe the interval between the collapse of Hitler and that of Japan would be as long as be thought a year ago this time...
...For instance, you have the greatest scheme for improved education that has- ever been attempted by a responsible government...
...Allied forces this week candidly admitted that the prospects for taking Cassino were very remote...
...THE WAR IN REVIEW THE HOPES of the plain people of the world that Allied leaders would soon find unity around a democratic program of war aims sagged this week to a new low when Prime Minister Winston Churchill reported to the world on the progress of the war...
...Some of the plans have been going forward during the war, he said...
...The war in the Pacific, he said, may be won sooner than either America or Britain expected...
...The greatest danger the Allies have overcome, he stated* is the German U-boat menace...
...One of the most significant portions of the speech was that devoted to-the consideration of economic and political problems at home...
...As he spoke, advance spearheads of the Red Army stood on the banks of the Prut River, the Rumanian boundary from which' Hitler launched his Russian invasion, June 21, 1941...
...As he spoke, the clamor for definition of Allied war aims in his own country, as it has in America during the past fortnight, rose t© a new creseendo...
...America's fundamental aim in this theater is to open a supply line to China so that the forces of Chiang Kai-shek can obtain materials to launch a powerful attack against the invader...
...The Russian advance from Stalingrad, he said, "a distance of 900 miles accomplished in a single year —constitutes the greatest cause of Hitler's undoing...
...Of the Allied plans for carrying the war to the European continent, he spoke guardedly...
...It was significant that the Moscow censor this week gave clearance to an Associated Press story whieh indicated that Russia would go it alone from now'on and which emphasized that the Kremlin had grown so derisive of seeond front promises that Russia now treats them as "jokes...
...Home Front Program Admitting disappointment at the campaign in Italy and in the Aegean Sea...
...Obviously referring to the trend against his administration in recent by-elections, the Prime Minister vigorously defended the program and record of his regime and criticized his political detractors...
...For the most part, the address was a review of military developments already common knowledge to Allied and Axis peoples alike...
...Although it was pounded to dust by Allied air and artillery assaults, the Germans still held the city and were launching savage counterattacks from its rubble...
...Whether these reassurances would have any effect on the recent Russian tendency to play a lone hand in European politics was doubtful...
...Although there was a diversity of reports during tjie week concerning Allied progress in Burma and the Japanese thrust into India, there were indications at mid-week that a showdown loomed for both the Allied and enemy offensives...
...Meanwhile, military news from the Italian theater was more discouraging than ever...
...Churchill acknowledged that the American Airforce in Britain is greater than the RAF, and said that either one of them is almost as numerous and much more powerful than the entire German Airferee...
...An uncompromising reactionary, Churehim has always been on the side of the British Tories fighting measures to extend economic security to the British people...
...He recalled that he had promised a program of far-reaching reform to go into effect when the war is over...
...Heralded in advance as an address that might hold out some solution for the troublesome political problems plaguing the Allies, the Churchill report, far from offering hope in this respect, hardly contained more than a recognition that the problem exists...
...He justified the Italian campaign by noting that "nearly 25 divisions and a noteworthy part of the German air force" are being held in Italy while "other and even more important events which might require their, presence are impending elsewhere...
Vol. 8 • April 1944 • No. 14
