The Wilmington morning star., 1940-12-14
War

BY KIRKE L..

sonal meeting between Hitler and
Mussolini is in the offing do not
occasion any surprise.
II Duce's plight is obviously 50
serious as to call for pocketing
his pride and sending an SOS to
his axis mate. A crisis of some
sort is shaping up for him.
The Berlin rumor that Mussolini
was on the way there '7as followed
quickly by reports of Hitler's de-
parture for an undisclosed destina.
ton. 1t may be Bremen pass again.
That setting for the telling of the
sad story that II Duce must relate
would at least save him the ignom-
my, of going hat in hand to Berlin
for help.
Defeatism
And he needs help, quickly. In
timations of spreading defeatism
in Italy seep through Rome's cen.
sorship. Fascist party strong-arn,
squads are reported to have been
mustered to deal with defeatists
in third-degree fashion.
Just what Hitler can or will d,
is questionable. Any direct mill.
tary help for Italy might leopard.
ize Hitler's own war effort against
England.
Months of German air and sea
attack on England did not prevent
massing of men and material. in
Egypt for the expanding British
offensive. Italian i'll success
against Greece has made the
Balkans more of an unpredictable
powder-keg than ever. If Hitler
dropped a war spark therein il
might blow up in his face and
expose his Rumanian oil resources
to British air attack.
British bomber forces aiding the
Greeks are now in easy striking
distance of the Rumanian oil
fields. Bulgarian and Yugoslavian
neutrality has served to keep them
off thus far. 1t seems questionable
that Hitler could consider sacrific-
ing that protection just now.
Yet he would have to march
through n or the other neutral
state to. outflank the Greeks pres
sing Italy toward a crushing
disaster in Albania. There is NO
route save the air for German
or Italian aid to the beleaguered
Fascist army in Egypt.
Would Open Door
A German invasion of Bulgaria
or Yugoslavia would open an in.
viting door for British air attack
from Greece on Rumanian oil
wells, pipelines and rail and river
routes to Germany. That, too, al
a particularly Instantaneous
time for Hitler.
The Danube river route will
soon be ice sealed for months.
Shipping the enormous stocks CT
gasoline and oil needed to feed
the present air and sea attack on
England is even now a serious
Nazi problem. Supplementing that
to build up reserves for ar in
tensified drive in the spring
doubles the load.
It is 1900 miles or more, airline,
from the Rumanian oil field out
lets to such major Nazi U-boat
bases as Lorient on the southwest
coast of France. 1t is still further
to Nazi air and U-boat bases in
The rail distance is double or
triple that in each case. Continent
tai railroads yer designed for the
strategic needs of the various ma
ions, not to handle a trans-con-
tinental mass oil traffic.
British admiralty reports of Ger
man tankers downed off the Nor
wegian and even the French coasts
show up the Nazi transportation
problem. Despite all risks they are
using the North sea, even the Eng.
lish channel, to move oil and gaso-
line, supplementing rail move
ments.
Helping M~ussolini is no easy task
for Hitler. What he decides to do
may depend upon just how much
of a war asset instead of a wal
liability he concludes Italy to be
under present circumstances. 3
A new controllable-pitc pro-