Evening star., 1940-03-31
Allied Blockade
Effectiveness in
Doubt, Says Eliot
Germon Offensive Held
Dependent on Success
Of Economic Pressure
BY MAJ. GEORGE FIELDING
Eliot

0y MAJ. GEOhUE F1ELDlNO
ELIOT.
The ides of March have come
and gone. The Easter surprise"
has. failed to materialize. The Finn
ish war is ended. So, apparently.
has the so-called peace offensive"
Sumner Welles is home from the
grand tour with what appears, with
in our limit of permitted specula-
ton. to be discouraging tidings re-
garding the prospects of an early
cessation of hostilities.
And now once more the trumpets
are sounding. from Paris, from Ber-
lin, from Moscow and even from
TOXIC. while the veil of a discreet
silence once more obscures the Ro-
man scene. Curiously enough, it is
against the United States that the
immediate diatribes of Berlin and
Toxic are directed-and probably
for substantially similar, though
perhaps unconnected. reasons.
Modern war is so utterly depend
eIt on adequate supplies that both
Germany and Japan must keep a
careful eye on our economic rela-
ticns with themselves and with their
enemies. The use of political weap-
ous in the economic field is a fea-
ture OF this strange war, which was
only beginning to be understood in
its full potentiality during 1914
1918.
More and more, however, We are
~ Sr,,f E~l,
ing forces today, as Gen. Douglas
Macarthur once remarked, are but
the keen edge of the national sword
The body of the blade, as he said,
IS made up of the whole of the re-
sources of the state-political, in
dustrial, financial, commercial as
we'll as military. The integration
control. and the resulting co-ordi-
nation of policy toward the achieve
ment of national ends. is game
IN which dictator states have great
initial advantages over the democ-
racies-a fact to which the fate of
Finland is but the latest, If not the
least, eloquent witness.
UNITY is Big question.
On the evidence of history. it is
probable, on the other hand, that
the democracies have the greater
staying power under the bludgeon
of defeat But this staying power
is dependent on various factors.
notably on unity of purpose. the will
to victory which carried the British
and French through the dark days
of 1917-18 Whether that unity that
will is today as strong or may be-
come as strong AS then, remains
for the future to disclose.
sAs previously suggested in these
articles. the decision now facing the
Germans is whether to sit tight and
await allied moves. or to attack and
seek victory in the field. This de-
cision depends very largely on the
effectiveness or lack of it of the
allied blockade If the blockade is
, SO effective that it establishes
! time limit within which the Ger
mans, must attain victory or aban-
don hope thereof, in all probability
they will attack while they retain
some measure of superiority-that
is, while the British have not yet
been able to make their full man.
power effective in military sense
on the western front, while allied
plus American airplane production
has not yet wiped out the present
German advantage of numbers in
that field.
But it must be remembered that
to Germany. victory represents not
the destruction of France and
Great Britain as strong European
states-surely in his secret councils
not the most enthusiastic Nazi leader
believes any such accomplishment to
be within the power of his nation
but rather the undisturbed possess
sion of the spoils of war in Central
and Eastern Europe. of Bohemia,
Moravia, Danzig, Western Poland;
OF the possession, moreover. of the
overwhelming prestige which would
result from such conclusion of
the present war, and would make
the. Germans the overlords of all
the Balkans and the senior partner
IN economic political alliance with
the Soviet Union. In other words,
the German goal is the erection of
a7dominant and blockade-proof con-
tinental state.
Removed Russian Danger.
This would be largely attained
merely by peace based on the
status quo. To the attainment of
this end. the Germans have bent
their every effort, and so far with
complete success save for the oues-
tion OF the blockade. They concen-
trated overwhelming forces against
Poland and succeeded in destroying
that state before the allies could
seriously threaten them in the west.
They removed the danger of hostile
Russian reaction to this proceeding
by the Russo-German pact, which
sull appearS-as far as may be
Judged-to be going concern
BY that Judlcious mixture of eco
nomic pressure and military threat
which is the chief characteristic of
Nazi continental diplomacy, they
have kept themselves surrounded
with cushion of neutral states, and
have so far, with some Russian aid.
prevented the fears of these small
states from drawing them into alli-
ance against the Reich, though the
tendencies in that direction are one
OF the dangers of this German policy
which the Wilhelmstrasse must bear
constantly in mind They were
largely instrumental in bringing the
Finnish war to a close when it ap-
parently threatened the opening of
a fatal breach in their ceinture of
neutralS: Both hv the military q ssist