THE WAR IN REVIEW
THE WAR IN REVIEW THE thunderous clap of a mighty artillery barrage—according to on,-the-scene observers, the greatest in all the history of war—shattered a week's long silence along the bloody...
...Some Chinese dignitaries were said to have predicted that Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek may be forced to quit before the end of this Summer unless he obtains much more assistance than he is now getting...
...That the German threats were having the desired effect in Britain could be seen by the warnings of public officials that a German suicidal attack against Britain might come in a last desperate effort to disrupt the Anglo-American invasion plans...
...We can and will destroy the German armies," he said...
...But to a tense world, waiting for the first flash that the, hour of decision in the battle for Europe had come, the smashing assault on the German mountain defenses meant more than just another crushing blow to clear the road to Rome...
...French troops were reported to have breached the line at one point and smashed ahead for substantial gains...
...Berlin, too, unlimbered some big guns in the psychological warfare...
...To us in Italy has been given the honor to strike the first blow...
...Warning that Germany was ready to launch a counter-invasion of England, the Nazi propagandists talked of vast combat preparations along the Atlantic wall...
...At mid-week, the Allies had driven several wedges into the German line but were encountering fierce resistance from the Nazis...
...This week there were increasing reports from Washington that prospects of China being knocked out of the war are being seriously discussed...
...How seriously the American high command regards the Chinese position is not known, of course...
...Short-waved to the people of Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, and Finland the Allied declaration warned that "while these nations cannot escape their responsibility for having participated in the war on the side of Nazi Germany, the longer they continue at war in collaboration with Germany, the more disastrous will be the consequences to them and the more rigorous will be the terms which will be imposed upon them...
...Meanwhile, the war of nerves raged on, highlighted this week by a virtual ultimatum from the United States, Britain, and Russia to people of the Axis satellite nations to get out of the war before it is too late...
...The enemy gains, which have put into his hands the unbroken control of the Peiping-Hankow railroad, emphasized the critical situation in that theater...
...Lt...
...Ultimatum To Satellites The Russian front, except for the Red Army's successful storming of the great Crimean seaport of Sevastopol and strong German counter-attacks in Poland, was silent at mid-week...
...The Soviet armies were reported to be preparing for a Summer offensive surpassing any blow yet struck on the eastern front...
...It is not so much the military situation but economic and political conditions in unoccupied China which threaten the Allied cause...
...Realization that the coming monsoon season would soon immobilize all efforts to open the Burma Road and that the present Japanese drive north of Chungking might well overrun the great Chinese wheatbowl made the picture even darker...
...Fighting in other sectors see-sawed with the Allies marking up slight gains...
...They are reported to have discussed strategy to push the Pacific offensive to the limit in an effort to carry out Nimitz' aim to drive through to the Asiatic continent and establish bases there...
...The Japanese were still driving ahead in China against the valiant but under-equipped and poorly-organized Chinese regulars and guerillas...
...Clark recently returned to the battle area from Washington where he was said to have conferred secretly with President Roosevelt concerning the new offensive...
...Mark Clark, commander of the United States 5th Army in the Italian theater, in orders issued to his men, charged them to "strike smashing blows and follow them through to completion...
...Sir Harold Alexander, commander of Allied forces in Italy, the new Italian offensive was referred to as the first in the blows "about to fall" against the Hitler citadel...
...Significantly, it was noted that in the orders of the day given to the Allied forees by Gen...
...In a statement addressed to home guardsmen, Field Marshal Ironside, commander of the British home force, declared that "it is quite possible that when we make our great invasion the Germans will make some sort of effort to land in this country...
...THE WAR IN REVIEW THE thunderous clap of a mighty artillery barrage—according to on,-the-scene observers, the greatest in all the history of war—shattered a week's long silence along the bloody Gustav Line in southern Italy this week...
...Grave Situation In China Meanwhile, there was little in the reports from the Pacific from which Americans could derive great encouragement...
...The roar of Allied cannon signalized the launching of a new all-out offensive to break the long stalemate in the Italian theater...
...These conditions are made-to-order for Japanese propagandists and reports are that they are capitalizing on them to an alarming degree...
...Fierce Nazi Resistance "From east and west, from north and south blows are about to fall," Gen...
...But commentators were quick to find significance in a meeting between Admiral Ernest J. King, commander in chief of the U. S. Navy, Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander of the Pacific Fleet, and Admiral William Halsey, South Pacific commander, in San Francisco...
...To a world waiting for D Day it might be the first blow in the coordinated smash from the east, west, north, and south against Hitler's continental fortress...
...Alexander said, "which will result in the final destruction of the Nazis and bring freedom once again to Europe and hasten the peace for us all...
...Fantastic inflation, lack of food and other supplies, political discord, and other factors have made the Chinese position far more serious than the heavily-censored Chungking news reports indicate...
Vol. 8 • May 1944 • No. 21
