THE WAR IN REVIEW
THE WAR IN REVIEW MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS along the military and political fronts of the war emphasized again this week the forceful role being played on the world stage by the Soviet Union in contrast...
...Polish Socialists, operating in underground organizations, smuggled a paper into Britain this week which was largely devoted to a strong denunciation of Russia...
...a new treaty concerning fishing rights in Pacific waters was signed with Japan...
...The Allied Burma offensive, pushing in from India, was closing in on the enemy supply base at Myit-kyina, while the Japanese offensive launched from Burma into India moved closer to the Allied supply base at Imphal...
...Sharing the spotlight with these aggressive political moves—moves which touched most of the nerve centers of world politics in Europe and Asia—was the military news that for the first time since she became embroiled in World War II, Russia was now fighting on soil she did not claim as her own when Germany struck in June of 1941...
...Accompanying these sensational military developments was a strong political appeal directed to every shaky German satellite in the path of the on-rushing Red Army...
...THE WAR IN REVIEW MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS along the military and political fronts of the war emphasized again this week the forceful role being played on the world stage by the Soviet Union in contrast to the stammering, indecisive part taken by the United States and Great Britain...
...Whether the new terms reported in press dispatches would be acceptable remained a question at mid-week...
...What effects this new appeal would have remained to be seen, but for the most part it was hailed by competent observers as denoting a far more realistic political program than the Anglo-American powers have yet disclosed...
...Seizing the opportunity muffed by British and American diplomats, Molotov appealed directly to the people of the Central European and Balkan countries with assurances that the Soviets sought no territorial gains nor changes in the social status of their countries...
...A report by Foreign Economic Administrator Leo T. Crowley indicated the great extent to which Soviet military forces were strengthened by U. S. Lend-Lease...
...There were persistent reports that Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden was to resign his post...
...Sir Claude Auchinleck, was breezily optimistic about the Japanese threat, declaring that he had no intention of surrendering Imphal...
...See William Henry Chamber-lin's article, "Stalin Carries The Ball," on Page 5.) There were many examples of the decisive character and far-ranging scope of Soviet action, not the least important of which were these developments: Foreign Commissar Molotov launched a new, shrewd political offensive in the Balkans to ease the way for Red Army troops as they surged across the Prut River to carry the fighting to Rumanian soil...
...The Soviets were engaged on other political fronts also...
...British commander of ground forces in India, Gen...
...The latter is a vital Japanese naval base located in the Caroline Islands, some 500 miles from the Philippines...
...To a world that remembered his complacency and dismal failure in North Africa, his present attitude was anything but reassuring...
...By andjarge the criticism was leveled against his failure to enunciate a clear foreign policy for Britain, especially in its relations with the problems involving the Soviet Union...
...and a stern demand was made on the Anglo-American wing of the United Nations to settle the Italian muddle...
...Criss-Cross In Asia Meanwhile, across the world in the Pacific island warfare, American air forces were striking some of their most telling blows in a series of daring raids on Truk, Rabaul, and Palau...
...Some attributed the reports to antagonisms within the Cabinet that have resulted from Eden's friendship with Russia...
...a border dispute with China was bluntly handled...
...Secretary of War Stimson, however, denied this week that the failure at Cassino was a real test of Allied strength...
...Finland, it was reported, was ready to vote on new and more acceptable peace terms...
...It was apparent that the Finns, by showing a more aggressive policy than the great powers have shown toward the Kremlin, had been able to obtain moderations in the original Soviet armistice proposal...
...Referring to the "insatiable greed of Russia," the paper left no doubt that Socialists regarded Russian occupation as an "even greater tragedy" than the German occupation...
...The report showed that we have sent the Reds more than 8,800 planes altogether...
...The first burst of optimism was replaced by more sober reports from Helsingfors which indicated that a final decision had been postponed until after Easter...
...He was able to save the situation by cracking his bull whip and presenting this purely domestic issue for a vote of confidence in his Cabinet's conduct of the war...
...At mid-week Soviet forces were closing in on Odessa, the last great Russian city in German hands, and new blows along the vast front were expected momentarily...
...In Southeast Asia the two separate offensives of the Allies and Japanese continued to grind slowly ahead...
...Churchill's Strength Wanes The Kremlin this week seemed also to have modified its view toward the Badoglio regime in Italy, a development taken by many observers to indicate that the Russians were retreating from their announced intention to grant Badoglio full recognition...
...Others believed that if he did resign he would be doing so to devote full time to leadership in the House of Commons, a step which may bring him closer to the prime ministership...
...The vote was overwhelmingly affirmative...
...The Army And Navy Journal, unofficial service magazine, bitterly criticized the Italian campaign, saying that it had put the Allies in such a position that they must now continue an effort that is certain to weaken the cross-Channel invasion forces...
...Prime Minister Churchill's broadcast address of last week was met with sharply unfavorable reaction in influential British papers...
...Meanwhile, Russia's problems with Poland were intensified last week...
...More than a million tons of arms and other war supplies were shipped in January and February...
...Meanwhile, the plight of the Allied forces in Italy had grown no better...
...In a front page editorial, Izvestia, official government organ, denied that the exchange of envoys between the two governments meant recognition and called on the British and American governments to take steps toward clearing up the Italian situation even if it meant changing the Badoglio regime...
...So deep-going is the present British dissatisfaction that Churchill's political unity in Parliament crumbled this week and he was defeated in a vote involving the new education program...
...The effects of the aggressive Soviet policy were being felt in Britain, too...
...wavering Finland was reported to have been given more moderate and appealing peace terms in order to hasten her exit from the struggle...
...Molotov Appeals To The People The Soviet lunge across the Prut into Rumania came as a spectacular climax to the mighty Red Army offensive launched in the Ukraine a month ago—an offensive which this week was driving ahead with such fury and power that it appeared a virtual certainty that Nazi resistance in the entire Ukraine would soon crumble...
Vol. 8 • April 1944 • No. 15
