Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-01-23
Best Ally
Of Britain
MussoIini!
A Bow TO Benny Whose
Stumbling Checks Hitler
(The opinions expvsssed by
Westbrook Pegier are not neces-
sariiy those Of The Detroit
Times.)
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER

ffmes.)
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
A FTER all. fair is fair. so
"a those Americans who have
tossed off unkind cracks at
Benito Mussolini should now
salute Benny the Bum as an ally
rather than an enemy in the
war, and thank the poor stumh
bling clown for his help to date,
which seems likely to increase
as time goes on.
Up to now he has performed
two great services for our side:
First, he made il possible for
the British to obtain another
t0ehold in Europe after Hitler.
at the cost of 4 vast effort, had
thrown them across the chan
mel; and. more recently, he had
compelled Hitler to divert from
the attack on Britain a consid-
cradle force of planes. pilots and
auxiliary personnel to save
Benny's dashing invincibles in
Albania and Egypt.
These feats add up 10 the
equivalent of an important mill
tary victory for Britain, for
they have made it necessary for
Hitler TO fight on another front
at time when he might have
been permitted to concentrate
everything on the attack on
Britain.
NOW We can understand why
~ Hitler wanted Mussolni 10
remain neutral. and why the
british and. at the time. the
French hoped he would not
come in on their side. anyway.
Had he remained neutral the
invincibles would still be q
threat of unknown gravity in
Africa and Albania, whereas
now everybody knows that they
are the same buns who added
TO Caporetto and Adowa. that
they can't fight lick and. as
an ally. are military liability
to der fuehrer
For nearly 20 years Benny
was building this low comedy
army of his. but now the record
proves that they weren't any
good for anything but parades
sand for chasing unarmed saw
ages with tanks and bombing
planes.
They have answered the bell
four times, and the only fight
they won was a felonious as
sault, rather than war, on
Halle Selassie's barefoot boys.
Everybody else has slapped
them silly. and even when
France was dying and Benny
leaped in 20 take part in the
kill the fallen victim gave him
a kick in the face which made
him quit after a few kilometers.
HAD Benny entered the war
H on the Side-o1 the Allies.
Hitler would have romped over
him in few days and estab-
+ liSh himself all over the Medi-
-terranean. for. obviously. the
invincibles, who couldn't hold off
the Greeks and couldn't even
handle the British far from
home while their main effort
was directed TO resistance in
the British Isles. would have
been pushover for the ava
lanche which crushed France.
To realize what an absurd
clown Mussolini is il is nee
essary only to observe that the
English slapped his face, pulled
his cap down over his banjo
eyes and made him run all the
way home through crowded
streets while the Battle OF
Britain was raging with fe-
rocity unequaled since Verdun
II is natural to laugh at
Benny. for he is sure-fire COM
edy but you can't hate a man
who harms your enemy in a
war. and Mussolini certainly
has done Hitler no good.
MORE important than that,
1'l however, the palooka has
given the world proof that die
tatorship with all its guile and
mower over people is not neces-
Sarily the most efficient form OF
government for a nation in peace
or in war.
No dictatorship was more
strict than BennyS. and the
people were compelled to give
him everything over all those
years - man power. obedience,
wealth and co-operation-but
when war came and the British
varsity was engaged against the
G.erma ans. Mussolini couldn't
even reach the line of scrim-
mage. much less gain a yard.
against their scrubs. and was
forced to send for ringers lest
he be chased clear out of the