Evening star., 1939-01-22
Showdown Is Due This Year
On Survival Of Dictat0rs
Germany and Italy Need Moral or Military Victory
to Establish Finally Their Harmony
in Fight to Rule Europe
By Constantine Broom.


Chamberlain cannot give away French
territory with the same ease with which
he ceded Czecho- -Slovakia. He knows, too.
that the French government must render
account to the public which is in no
mood for vital concessions since Munich.
But he hopes by clever maneuvers to
place the French in an unfavorable no.
sition with the British public.
He will play his cards carefully and
place himself in a strategic iuridical
position He is said to desire logical con-
cesslons from France-participation in
the administration of the Suez Canal, a
free port in Djibouti, surrender of the
Djibouti-Addis Ababa Railway and
"Juridlcal' concessions in Tunis which
In fact amount to French surrender of
the eastern part of the protectorate.
But, should Chamberlain balk at even
these reasonable demands-and the
failure of last weeks visit suggests that
he has-ors should the French prove
adamant in their present position, the
world may expect a spectacular move.
Because there are two Ethiopian Rases
Princes) in Djibouti today and because,
the Italians claim, that port is being
used to smuggle arms and ammunition
into the new Italian colony-thus main
tanning the insurrectionist spirit of some
OF the unruly natives-Mussolini army
may one fine morning invade French
territory and occupy by force what the
f@
Set for Easy Victory.
Italian forces in Africa are more than
sufficient to obtain an easy victory.
There are some 200 regulars, some So
900 Askaris (native troops and some
10000 Ethiopian irregulars in Ethiopia
and the Italian Somaliland The French
have, with the reinforcements they have
sent out recently, a maximum force of
$500 men-mostly colored. Some hasty
Notifications have recently been thrown
around Djibouti but they are of no mill
tary value. The French force might be
able to resist for a week-but certainly
no longer.
Mussolni believes the French will ac-
cept the accomplished fact and after a
few weeks of political tension, during
which time Hitler will reveal his un-
qualified approval of the Italian action,
Chamberlain will step in and become
once more the savior of Europe's peace.
But many in Mussolini's encourage
think differently though they dare not
express their frank opinion to II Duce
for fear of reprisals. They believe the
French will consider such an action a
declaration Of war and will attack where
Italy Is weakest, either in Europe or in
Africa. That is why they believe 1889
will be the year in which the dictators
will have to measure forces with the
democracies Of Europe.
Hitler, it is said, is of the same opinion,
but he wishes an early showdown. The
September days in Germany were not
encouraging. Reports from unbiased
eye-witnesses reveal that the fear Of a
war was as great in the Reich as it was
In Great Britain and in France. Italy
was petrified. But to this the dictators
are indifferent. They know that the
people will answer the mobilization call
and they believe in speedy victory.
They doubt that the British can be in
duced to fight over minor incident like
Djibouti. In any case, they say, it will
take the British some time to make up
their minds to fight. In the meantime
the French armies will be badly bat
tered, their system of communications
put out of gear and the population in
Inundated by fierce air attacks.
AS long as the present balance of
power exists and France and Britain,
not having been definitely exposed are
unwilling to fight or are not defeated in
an outright war, the position of the two
relationships remains unstable in Eu-
rope. Their satellites in the Danubian
Valley and in Eastern Europe are un-
certain. They might desert the totali-
tartan camp as swiftly as they fled from
the French bankers. Nothing but a
definite moral or military victory over
the two major European democracies can
establish finally Germanys and Italy's
hegemony In Europe.
Copyright. 1e39)