Evening star., 1942-04-26

Two years ago, during the latter part
of April, the German high command
was making final preparations for the
onslaught which was destined to crush
France. On this day last year Naz troops
were battering at the gates of Athens
in their drive to consolidate Hitler's grip
on Southeastern Europe
Today all surface indications are that
Berlin, very likely with the connivance
of Toxic, is preparing an an-out military
effort to break the heroic resistance of
the Russian armies. So it is the more
significant that Archibald MacLeish, di-
rector of the Once of Facts and Figures,
should choose this particular moment to
warn American newspaper publishers to
be prepared not so much for sensational
battles, but rather against subtle Axis
maneuvers for a negotiated peace.
The warning must be viewed as timely
and as deadly serious None of us has
access to all the facts and figures with
regard to the course of the war which
presumably cross the desk Of Mr.. Mac
Leish. But to every well-informed per-
son, enough evidence is available to
justify his assertion that "an Axis often-
sive on the psychological front is in
the making"
Perhaps it is not superfluous to men,
ton three major factors which, both
separately and jointly. lend substance to
this statement. They are, though not
necessarily in order of Importance,
LavaIs accession to power in France; the
indications that Japan has nearly at
tanned her military obiectives in the Far
East; the temporary bottleneck in our
own war effort due to shortage of mer-
chant ships
People Are Resigned.
The Importance of the first factor lies
in its unwelcome intimation that a sub
stantial proportion of the French people
are now more or less resigned to collabo-
ration with GERMANY. Were the Situa-
tion otherwise, Laval, who is before all
else a shrewd and calculating politician,
would scarcely have gambled his neck
by taking office.
1t is, of course, appropriate to condemn
the French collaborators as dupes, de-
featists and traitors. Unfortunately,
however, such righteous indignation will
not of itself solve the French problem
and may even hamper the cool evalua-
ton necessary for its solution. To con-
solidate his position, Laval must now
avoid military action against the former
allies of France and work for that do
mestic recuperation SO. desperately need
ed by his PROSTATE country. For such
a program a peace offensive by Berlin
would be most helpful.
The military successes scored by Japan
aconstitute a second major REASON for
giving full credence to the MacLeish pre-
diction Of a developing Axis peace Of
fensive. The japanese are now gorged
with conquest If the campaign in
Burma is lost by the United Nations,
the Chinese will be almost wholly iso-
lated and, for all their dogged deter
mination, unable to accomplish more
than guerilla operations. And it will be
long before Gen. Douglas Macarthur
can safely begin reconquest.
Japan Needs Digestion Time.
Even without the grim warning con-
veyed to Toxic by the recent bombing
of Japanese cities, that country has
much to lose and nothing to gain by
carrying invasion still farther afield. So
more probable than an attack on either
India or Australia, though perhaps not
Siberia, is peace move designed to give
opportunity for digestion of the rich
areas the Japanese armies have swal-
lowed.
A third factor making an Axis peace
move timely is the present shortage of
ships to convey really adequate Ameri-
can armies overseas, then supply them.
The shipping shortage is certainly not
the fault of the Maritime Commission,
which has accomplished a veritable
miracle by increasing our output of mer-
chant vessels in three years from one a
week to two a day. At the present con-
struction rate, even without the future
improvement scheduled, the shortage will
in time disappear, almost regardless of
U-boat depredations.
While the shortage still continues and
blocks the gigantic potential offensive
power of the United States, is OBJ