Evening star., 1941-08-31

The first shot in what many military
observers consider the most momentous
phase of the present war was fired when
British and Soviet forces entered Iran.
Sgle great battle for oil-without which
Hitler cannot possibly win this warts
on its way. 1t will spread farther within
the next few months in the Middle East
and in the Mediterranean. Upon its
outcome hinges the fate of the Axis
The campaign in Russia will be over
within the next five or six weeks. The
rainy season. which transforms the Rus
sian plains into a sea of mud, begins III
October. Whether the Russians will be
holding a line behind the Leningrad-
Moscow-Kiev positions or whether they
will be pushed further back behind the
Urals is relatively unimportant. The i'm
portant factors are that they are ex-
pected to save enough armament to re-
organize their battered forces for cam
paign in the spring and that they hope
to hold the Caucasus in order to prevent
the Germans from capturing the i'm
portant Azerbaidjan oil fields.
buU NIldtcNCl IllC OubNOHlC Va IiiC
gigantic struggle in Russia may be, the
Germans are already preparing for the
winter campaign. And from the best
available reports the Mediterranean
basin is going to be the spot which will
witness, once more, the battle between
the British and their foes.
NaziS Must Have Oil.
An epic campaign is expected to de-
velop in the course of the next few
months, from Gibraltar to the mountains
of Iran and Afghanistan. New actors
may participate in this battle-the
French, the Turks and the Persians.
Hitler and his advisers are now fully
convinced that this is going to be a
very long war. Nazi Europe has enough
raw materials to continue the war, ex-
cept for oil and its derivatives. The Ru
manian production has been drastically
curtailed as a result of the destruction
of the -Carpathian oil fields by the
Russian aviation. Poland produces only
an Insignificant quantity, as does AL
bania. The campaign against the
Soviets has taxed the Nazi caches of the
precious liquid severely.
The consumption of unbelievably large
quantities of gasoline is felt more keenly
in the Reich than the loss of lives or
war materiel. Men, tanks, airplanes and
guns are replaceable. Gasoline is not.
One of the main reasons why the block
ade of Britain by submarines and air.
planes has been less effective lately is
that of the lack of gas and OIL rather
than the fact that the German airplanes
have been engaged in Russia.
Supplies in Iraq and Iran.
There is enough oil in the Near and
Middle East to supply all the needs of
the German Wehrmacht for the next
so years or more But that oil is at the
present moment. in the hands of the
British and the Russians. The fields in
Iraq (at MosuD in Iran (at Herman
shah) and in the south toward the
Persian Gulf and at Baku on the Cas-
plan Sea have as large an output Of
oil as all the oil fields in the Western
Hemisphere.
Pipe lines connect these oil centers
either with the Black Sea by way of
Batum or with the Mediterranean by
way of Haifa and Alexandretta. The
Axis armies must eliminate the British
feet from the Mediterranean and con-
ouer the Middle East in order to meet
the danger of a defeat at the hands of
Britain and her allies.
The Mediterranean and Middle East
fronts have been quiet since the fall of
Greece and Yugoslavia. But feveriSh
military and diplomatic preparations
have been going on. Only sporadic
news was available to the general pub
lie because the interest was centered
around the spectacular struggle between
the Russians and the Nazls.
In the diplomatic field, the Germans
have cinched the collaboration of the
French government Whether Marshal
Petain accepts pistol point" or willing
matrimony with Hitler is OF no conse-
quence. The Germans are toughening
up in the occupied and unoccupied por-
tions of France and, as soon as the high
command turns on the green signal,
France will be forced to play Hitlers
tune. France itself is OF no consequence