Evening star., 1941-05-04

dS OllS al e dSt4NO d1lQ
sive in the west of Egypt.
From strictly military point of view
the situation appears as follows: The
Germans have about 100000 men avail
able for the Suez campaign. Their
aviation is also superior to that of the
British in numbers Their navy con-
sists mainly of small torpedo launches
which ar. being brought by land and
a number of the smaller type (60-ton)
submarines. In order to attack the
Suez Canal and destroy Britain's posi-
ton in the Middle East they will have
to ferry these troops across into Asia
Minor anc Africa. This operation will
not be easy. despite the axis superiority
in airplares.
The British have a maximum of
100000 men. Their equipment Is
adequate. Their fighting spirit is ex-
cellent. To these forces must be added
the South African Army which is
operating in Ethiopia and the remnants
of the Greek Army.
British Position Difficult.
The position of the British is difficult,
although they have free access to their
lines of communication and are on the
defensive. There is little hope that the
Turks will throw in their lot with the
British al the present time. Hence
Britain's 100000 men will have to take
care of region extending from the
Syrian border to Western Egypt. If
they could obtain from the United States
within a reasonably short space of
time the necessary aviation and anti
aircraft guns, the German threat would
be less imminent. But Britain is still
lacking sufficient artillery against
planes to meet the German threat on
equal footing. Hence there is a serious
concern that mechanical forces and
aviation might once more score against
physical courage and determination to
meet the axis onslaught.
Hitler is preparing to take over most
if not all-of the Middle East. The Ger
man Reichschancellor is reckoning on a
long war in which he may be cut off
from all overseas oil supplies, long war
In which airplaneS and submarines will
make much heavier demand on oil
and gasoline than heretofore He fig
ures on war in which the United States
will be involved In such an eventu-
ality-which is less discounted in Berlin
than in the United States because it is
logical to the military mind-the supplies
of oil from Rumania, Poland and even
Russia will not be sufficient.
Campaign Has Two Purposes.
The Germans don't like to rely on the
Baku oil fields because of Russia's we'll
known lethargy in sending supplies out
of the country. The Mosul oil fields in
Iraq are considered among the richest
in the world and have not been fully
exploited yet There is a direct pipeline
from Mosul to the Eastern Mediter-
ranean, with one head at Alexandretta
in Syria and the other at Haifa in Pales-
tine The possession of these oil fields
would mean that Germany would have
at her disposal all the oil she might
need for war and industrial purposes.
The planned campaign against Pales-
tine and Syria is thus twofold in its pur-
pose: To threaten the Suez Canal and
to give Germany two heads of the pipe
line.
Preparations have been going on for
several weeks to take over MoSul A
coup d'etat was organized in Iraq and
the present government is subservient
to Berlin. Approximately 5000 tourists"
have been discovered of late in Iran.
They are the same type of young, hob
nailed tourists who preceded the Ger
man armies into Norway and Bulgaria.
They have arrived in small groups-50
to 100 at time-and are now exploring
the beauties of the mountains on the
Iranian-Iraqian borders.
The Iranian government is more con-
cerned over Russia's aims than any
thing else. There has been a rumor
abroad that Herr Hitler encouraged his
Moscow comrade, Stain, to expand
Russias sphere of influence to Iran and