Evening star., 1940-05-22
Picture for Allies
Held Coal Black
Military Heads Hi
Many Of Dangers soid
10 Hove Been Known. bui
No Precautions Token
BY WILLIAM H. STONEMAN.

BY WILLIAM HI. STONEMAN,
ohicaso Daily News war Correspondent,
LONDON, May 22.-The most
crucial battle since March, 1918, was
still In full swing this morning with
the fate Of British, Belgian and
French forces who are ranged on,
the Channel coast still In the bal
ance. ~ ~
The reoccupation Of Arras which
was announced by the French early
this morning is taken here as proof
that the allies are striking hard
across the salient which the Ger
mans have established toward the
coast-betwcen the main French
armies and the allied forces on the
Channel-and that there is still
fair chance that the German ad-
vanced forces at the tip of the
salient, hard by the Channel, may
still be CUTOFF. esz
Still, 1t Is evident that no minor
successes against isolated towns will
do, at this juncture; German forces
In the wedge extending toward the
Channel are now so mobile and so
potent thAt nothing short of a big
blow by the French from the south.
across their rear, can handle them.
London is waiting from hour to hour
to hear that this offensive has begun.
Optimism in London.
The farther you get away from
the fighting the more optimistic peo-
pie appear to be. Here in London
today we found most people saying
that the situation was still well in
hand, that everything would turn
out all right and that the grave
stories brought home from the fight-
Ing area yesterday were highly dis
torted. This supreme optimism seems
to those. of us who retreated from
Louvain to the channel to be COM
pletely erroneous and from the
allied viewpoint, unforgivable. It is
patiently not based on actual facts
OF the situation which is positively
desperate.
The American people, at least,
must not be misled by dashing ac-
counts Of the Royal Air Force bonn
bardment over Germany and the
daring Of British troops in action
here and there. The r. A. F.. has
done its best and the British troops
nave fought like mad. but the gen.
eraI picture Is coal-black. It would
be crime for any censor to try
TO prevent the Americans from
knowing this and to the credit of
the British it must be said that
most OF the accounts written by
american correspondents who have
Deen with the British expeditionary
forces IN Belgium and France have
been allowed to pass with few de-
Lotions.
Facts Were Known-but-
Premier Paul Reynaud's dis
closures regarding inefficiency, STU
pldlty and negligence in the, early
Gays OF the German invasion are
fully borne out by what has hap
pened everywhere. Everybody knew
that there would be thousands of
NTH columnists, men and women
operating behind the, allied lines.
that the Belgians probably could not
hold. that it would be tremendously
hazardous to try to hold the Albert
Canal and the Meuse in Belgium
and that the roads in case of re-
treat were likely to be flooded with
refugees. Yet apparently thousands
OF nth columnists did operate, to-
gether with the usual parachutists.
the Belgian Army was intrusted
with an important role in the gen.
eral scheme. the British Army did
GO into Belgium, and refugees by the
hundreds of thousands. were allowed
to jam the arteries of communica-
ton.
1t was also known that the Ger
man air arm was capable of terrific
attack on not only Belgian but allied
troops and communications, and
that nothing short of a tremendous
armada of allied fighters would be
capable Of holding them. Yet Brit
1sh fighter pilots for IL days fought
against the Germans at such odds
as to 10 or to IL. Many of them
were killed as a result. Common
sense would seem to have dictated
that everything must be thrown
into the greatest pitched battle in
history on the theory that failure
0.01 nn.