Evening star., 1941-11-09
Growing Need Of u. S. Supplies
Confronting Britain and Soviet
Factories Must Turn Out More Arms for Axis Foes
Even at Expense of Americas Defense,
Observer Declares
By Constantine Brozcn.

BY COnsfdn
Now that the United States is in the
midst of an undeclared war, her mill
tary and naval experts are reckoning
their assets and liabilities for the fight
that lies ahead
The United States Is fighting the Axis
with the support of two determined, but
sorely tried, partners, Great Britain and
Soviet Russia. The fighting coefficient
OF both is high and they are determined
to see this war through regardless of
cost. But they are forced to rely on
the United States as their chief source
of supply Of war material OF all kinds,
from small arms to tanks and planes,
of food and Of petroleum and all its
by-products.
Since last May we have sent Britain
the utmost help. We have filled the
British larder for at least eight months
to. come, and the British Army in the
United Kingdom now is sufficiently well
supplied to meet any emergency. Thanks
to the number of planes we have sent to
England, the British high command can
look confidently to the immediate future.
The British general staff no longer is
concerned over the possibility of Ger
man invasion this year and Nazi air
raids no longer inspire the fear they
once did. Not only has Britain all she
needs to beat off Reichsmarshal Goer-
ing's air armada, but she can also re-
taliate on a large scale.
OF course, not all Britain's war
strength has come from the United
States. British factories are working
overtime and their contribution to Brit
aims defense is far better than was an
ticipated. The Anglo-A American war in
dustrial effort has secured the stronghold
of Britain herself, but the problem is
much broader than that.
Near East Campaign Expected.
Preparation must be made for the de-
fense of all those strategic points in the
British Empire where the Germans are
likely to deliver an attack; accordingly,
much of the British and American war
production is going to Egypt and the
Near East, where the Germans are ex-
pected to launch their next campaign
before the year ends. If Britains prob
lem were merely the defense of her
islands we could breathe more freely and
think ahead to the time when the Allies
will have a sufficiently strong army to
invade the European continent.
For the present, the British must think
in terms of the coming bitter fight-far
more fierce, probably, than anything they
have hitherto experienced-on a front
from Tobruk to Iran. Judging from the
past the Nazi high command will not
embark lightly on a campaign which
may hold the entire fate of Adolf Hit
ler's Third Reich: the Nazis will muster
every ounce of their strength to crush
the British in the Near East. That
means the British imperial forces must
have huge quantities of war material to
withstand the Nazi onslaught.
The British imperial forces now
standing between Libya and Iran are
fairly homogeneous and well equipped.
They are handicapped, however, by the
fact that reinforcements Of all kinds
men and materials-must come long dis
tances across the sea. The Germans, on
the other hand, will have the advantage
of operating along interior lines of COM
munication, except perhaps at the very
start Of the campaign. when they will
have to establish bridgeheads in Syria
or Turkey.
Once these landing operations are
completed the task of maintaining COM
munications between the zone of CON-
bat and the rear will be far easier than
that of the British An extensive net
work of railways now connects the Dam
ube River, which can carry war supplies
to Greek and Yugoslav ports with Axis
industrial areas, which extend from
France to the Carpathians.
Replenishment Difficult
To help meet the British supply prob
lens, the United States now is massing
arms and ammunition in Red Sea and
Persian Gulf ports. These supplies will
be of vital assistance when Hitler starts
his Near Eastern offensive, but their re-
plenishment, once the drain on them
begins and the Stukas become active in
that area, will be a difficult task.
In coming months, therefore, the
United States must make up its mind to