Evening star., 1940-02-25

Lie cCCOIlO pIl1cc O4 IklS GuIOpS4I1 war
was lost by the allies when they failed
to go to the relief Of Finland.
Tho hrst~the loss Of Poland to the
Reich and the U. s. S. R.-was lost be-
cause the British and the French had
no way Of aiding their ally in time. The
German war machine was too effective
and too quick. The physical obstacles
were insuperable. But in regard to Fin
land, there is little If any excuse whatso-
ever. The repercussions of their in
ability to assist this small republic.
which was fighting the battle of the al
hes, are likely to be far-reaching and
damaging to the further prosecution of
the war.
AS these lines are written the forces
Of Field Marshal Mannerheim are still
fighting, but they are fighting forlorn
battle. The loss of number of forts is
Of no consequence. But what is impor-
tant is the fact that the Finnish SOL
diers are worn out and incapable of sus-
tanned resistance. For three months
they have been under fire without relief,
without ever being able to rest, and have
been rushed from one section of the
front to the other to fill gaps as they
occurred.
The few volunteers-some 10000 men
who have dribbled into Finland in the
course Of the last few weeks we're Just
q drop in the bucket To every volunteer
who replaced Finnish soldier at the
front there were 10 Russian regular SOL
diers fresh from the training camps and
the well-trained Siberian divisions.
There is a general tendency in we'll
Informed official quarters in Washington
to blame the plight of Finland on the
allies and in particular on Britains lack
of determination to assume responsible
ties.
Entertained False Hopes.
The story of Finland is sad. That
country could have saved herself de-
struction and could have agreed to share
the fate of the other Baltic states had it
not been for the encouragement she re-
ceived from all quarters that Russia
would not be allowed to run roughshod
over her body.
The Stockholm meeting between the
King of Sweden, the King of Norway,
the King of Denmark and the President
of Finland, shortly before the Russians
invaded Finland, gave full confidence to
the Firms that they would not be let
down. The meeting, while officially an
impromptu gathering of the heads Of
Me Nordic states, was in fact held under
d sthe honevolent eyes of the allies. There
MAsaptY indication then that the four
Nord3c6 ~ould stick together in the event
Of aggression.
When Russia attacked Finland and
the Russian forces were thrown back
with practically no effort on the part
OF the Firms, the democratic countries
decided to organize an effective assist
ance for Finland It was slow, because
the Firms were so successful that wave
of optimism prevailed everywhere on the
assumption that the Russians would not
be able to break through. Public demon
strations of sympathy for the brave
Firms were staged everywhere. The
world applauded while the Firms were
dying.
At the beginning of this demonstra-
ton there were clear indications that
the Firms were losing breath. Finnish
diplomats in London, Paris and Wash
ington, while bowling smiingly to the
public applause. were confldentially tell
ing the various governments: For
Gods sake speed up real help. We
don't need airplanes and tanks and guns
only. What we need most is men. The
army of 400y0 men which Mannerheim
had at the outset of the campaign has
dwindled to less than 100000 The Rus
slams are bringing an avalanche of men
and good war material. We need help
and need it at once. Otherwise the sac
rifices we have made so far will be of
no use to YOU"
Paris Reaction Is Strong.
The cry of the Finnish government hit
the bulls eye in Paris.
A meeting of the government with the
leaders of the various important political
parties brought out clearly to Daladier
the fact that there was an urgent de-
mand in France that war should be
declared by the allies on Russia and i'm
portant forces should be rushed via
Sweden and Norway to Finland. In
other words, there was demand that
the elastic front, which the French Gen.