Evening star., 1942-05-02
Destroying the Enemy

Destroying the Enemy
Three recent events-the meeting
between Hitler and Mussolini, Stain s
speech to the Russian people and the
Presidents address of Tuesday night
are closely tied together and should
be considered accordingly.
In some quarters the meeting of
the dictators at Salzburg is inter
preted as evidence that MuSSolini is
trying to convert Hitler to an all-out
offensive in the Middle East this
summer. Mussolini, according to this
line of reasoning, is rapidly losing
prestige in Italy and is in desperate
need of something that can be pre-
Sented to his own people as triumph
for Italian arms. Time alone can
tell whether this reasoning is correct,
but at this stage of the game it seems
less than plausible, for it is Mussolini
who is tied to the tail of Hitler's kite
The probability is that II Duce went
to Salzburg to receive orders, and not
to make recommendations of his
own.
OF course Hitler may decide to
strike at Britain in the Middle East
He may be willing to open up a
second front for the Allies despite
the threat of the Russians on his
flank. But until that intention is
clearly manifested it would seem
wise to proceed on the assumption
that Russia is his main concern and
that he summoned Mussolini to Salz-
burg to find out precisely to what
extent he could count on his hench-
man for aid in the showdown with
the Soviets.
There can be little doubt that
Stain holds to the view that the
major battle of 1912 will be fought
on the Russian front. And there is
a certain satisfaction to be derived
from the confidence with which he
anticipates the clash. In his May
Day address he spoke of the increas-
ing military aid that Russia Is getting
from the United States and Britain,
and committed himself to the propo-
sition that Russia can and must
smash the Germans this year. With
increasing help from Britain and the
United States, he said, Russia must
make 1912 "a year Of final defeat of
the German Fascist armies. We are
able to do this and we must do this,
whatever happens"
1t may be objected that Stain, in
these confident assertions, was talk
ing for the benefit of Russian morale,
and that he cannot do the things he
promises to do. Certainly, his state
ments cannot be accepted without
reservations, but in this connection
there are two things that should be
kept in mind. First, would Stain
take this supremely confident line If
he expected his armies to be hurled
back this summer as they were last?
If he were only trying to bolster
Soviet morale. would he not be doing
more harm than good in the long
run by building up hopes of victory
If he knew they we're to be dashed
before the summer is out?
The second point is the Presidents S
reference to Russia in his f1reside
chat. Mr.. Roosevelt held forth no
promise of Russian victory in 1912,
but he had this to say: "On the Euro
pean front the most important de-
velopment Of the past year has been
the crushing offensive on the part of
the great armies of Russia against
the powerful armies Of Germany.
These Russian forces have destroyed
and are destroying more armed
power Of our enemies-troops. planes,
tanks and guns-than all the other
United Nations put together"
This is fact which cannot be
denied And, regardless of whether
Russia succeeds in smashing the
Germans this year. there can be no
doubt that. win or lose, the Soviet
armies will continue to inflict the
greatest damage on the enemy. That
being the case, it clearly seems to be
the part of wisdom for us to make a
supreme effort to put guns. planes
and tanks in the hands of the troops
who are in a position to use them
most effectively against the Axis.