Evening star., 1942-04-26
By Constantine Br0tcn.

a place in the sun, will prevent Italy
from seizing important French territory
and. what is most important, viii help
to assure the defeat of Britain, an event
which, they believe, will end Frances
starvation. They think Frances full CO.
operation with the Axis will end the war,
as far as Europe is concerned, by the
end of this year.
Everything points, therefore, to an
early outbreak of violent warfare in the
Mediterranean, North Africa and the
Near East. Under that terrific threat
there is little the British and we can do
on the coast of Western Europe. The
efforts of the United Nations will be
taxed to the utmost In order to break
the enemy's offensive, and only if we
succeed in stalemating the Axis can we
begin to think of an offensive against
the Reich.
Vital Results Envisioned.
The delay in the Mediterranean Of
fensive, which was expected to begin
early in March, indicates the great i'm
portance Nazi leaders attach to its sue
cess. The Axis high command realizes
that while the setbacks in Russia nicked
its prestige and caused severe losses,
failure Of the Mediterranean campaign
would have far more disastrous results.
Failure in that campaign-and anything
short of complete victory and expulsion
of Britain from the Mediterranean and
Africa would be considered failure
would spell the ultimate defeat of the
Axis, regardless of successes elsewhere.
According to Nazi strategists, German
conquests in Western Europe and the
Balkans were merely preparatory for
the major offensive in the Mediterranean
Basin. With complete NaI control of
Asia Minor, with its terminals of the
pipe lines from the Mosul oil fields and
with NaZi control of Dakar, whence the
offensive against the Americas could be
started and communications between
Britain and her dominions disrupted,
Britain would be almost completely iso-
lated and the Nazis would be two thirds
of the way to final victory.
A United Nations defeat in the Med
iterranean area would mean Axis con-
troll of the Indian Ocean and junction of
the Nazi and Japanese forces. 1t would
mean the collapse of Turkeys neutrality,
the opening of the Dardanellas and the
Bosporus and complete and unchallenged
Nazi domination of the whole European
continent. 1t would give the Reich time
to reorganiZe its forces and obtain es-
sential oil supplies for the last stretch
of the race-the fight against Russia
and the United States.
Britain Gets Ready.
The United Nations high command is
fully aware of this. Britain particularly
realizes how much her fate depends on
the results Of the forthcoming battle in
the Mediterranean and Near East, and
there is no doubt that she is doing her
utmost to prepare herself against the big
gest and most momentous battle in the
history of the empire.
In Washington, too, the importance of
the struggle is fully understood. Al
though many still believe our principal
effort should be directed toward the Pa
cif1c, where our thrusts at Japan proper
and the Philippines have demonstrated
how thin Nipponese forces are spread,
preparations are being made to give ut
most assistance to the British.
1t may be expected that in the next
few weeks the United States will direct
its principal efforts toward helping Brit
ain in the most dangerous hour in her
history. Transports, cargo boats and