Evening star., 1942-11-08
Drive Against Europe
Seen as Result Of
New Offensive
invasion Viii Develop
Bases for Ultimate
Thrust at Hitler
By ]. M. ROBERTS, Jr.
Associated Press FOREIGN Editor,

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The United States Army and
Navy, assisted by the British Navy
and Air Forces, are putting ashore
on the Atlantic and Mediterranean
coasts of the French colonies in
Africa a great offensive striking
force intended to drive the Axis
completely of the great continent
and turn 1t into q vast reservoir
for the ultimate thrust at Hitler
ridden Europe. asfT
It may not be the second front
for which politicians, Russia and
the lay public OF the United Ma
lions have been clamoring, but it
t the 1912 second front for which
Allied military leaders have planned
%rough many weary months amid
zulminations Of the critics.
- For two years the men and war
1upplies Of Britain and the United
Estates have been poured into the
Middle East when they represented
practically everything which could
be spared from the home fronts.
: AS great Decentralization bases were
developed, as great assembly plants
sand supply depots took form, the
answer became obvious-that the
1Allies intended to strike back at
Hitler not through the gun-studded
sbloody ground of France and Flan-
gders, but rather at his weakest
spoint, against his one Army which
.could not operate from interior
alines of communication.
Supply Lines Shattered.
That blow has been struck. The
seuns are pointing at Field Marshal
sRommel's back with a threat to his
future even greater than that of the
British guns on his front. On him,
Ibis Mediterranean supply lines
shattered by Allied bombs and sub
marines, a good portion of his planes
grounded for lack of fuel, rest Hit
ler's hopes of defending the second
front.
Hitler is prepared in the West, but
no landing barges sweep across the
English Channel in brave but ghastly
attempts to retrace the route of the
1910 BEF. Hitler himself, even while
Britain waited with old American
Springfield rifles to defend herself,
put that channel crossing down as
/ suicidal. There may come day for
1t, when Allied bombers have poured
SUFFICIENT ruin on Hitler's continental
bases. factories, gun emplacements
and supply lines. There may be
third front, or fourth. or fifth,
, but Africa is the second, and its
extension may be the last.
With the Axis and all its SYM
pathizers swept from the south shore
of the Mediterranean, Hitler will
face series Of new threats which
will require defensive measures so
great as to dwarf what he has been
forced to do along the English Chan
mel and the North Sea. He will not
be safe anywhere, from the Atlantic
to the Russian front. Gibraltar,
Southern France, Italy, fighting
Yugoslavia, the ancient land route
through the Balkans either by way
OF Greece or Turkey, the Caucasus
all will offer threatening routes for
the invasion which the Allies one
day will send against him-a day
which may not be far off.
Neutrals May Move.
The Allied attitude toward the
neutrals involved in this scheme of
things also appeared to be clearer.
To some, like Turkey, who has been
waiting for years to see which way
the tide of victory may turn, Allied
domination of Africa may be the
deciding factor.
To others it may bring sleepless
nights Of soul-searching.
The action spoke loudly of Allied
determination that strategic terri
tories which offer comfort to the
enemy may no longer hide behind
q spurious neutrality. 1t placed a
new emphasis on Secretary of State
Hulls speech Of July %, in which
he warned the neutrals that their
positions were absurd and suicidal"
and reminded them that there is
no chance for liberty for any peo-
pie anywhere save through the vic
tory of free peoples. Never did a
, palmer duty to fight against its foes
devolve upon all peoples who prize
liberty and all who aspire to it."
And so in Vichy the men who
kneel to Hitler may cry out against
, what they will call the "perfidy" of
their former Allies, but millions of
, Frenchmen will be happy that,
/; through their empire, they once
again provide base for the AEF.
And over the line, in a Spain
ravaged by recent civil war and
still torn by internal dissension,
Generalissimo Franco may recall
/ the warning of Secretary Hull. may
take heed of the experience of his
! northern neighbors who sought to
s"collaborate" with Germany.
!, Certainly he will remember Gi-
.braltar-the one bridgehead on the
2 continent of Europe where the Allies
would not have to fight their way
in.