Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-05-12
The LARGER Victory

fruits OF victory IN TunlSla, our
exultant glance takes in the Medi-
terranean and the southern shores
of Fortress Europe" as logical con-
sequents of North African mastery.
Yet recent address by Britain's
Ambassador, Lord Halifax, suggests
that we may raise our sights even
higher and envisage a still larger
result. This is the final dissipation
of the danger that the Berlin-Rome
Toxic Axis can ever attain strategic
unity.
Three years ago that danger was a
terrible probability. The great Ger
man drive through the Low Countries,
launched on May 10, 1910, was already
acquiring momentum which, toward
the end of June in that black summer,
was to eliminate in the collapse of
France and the shattering of the
British Army in the Dunkirk dis
aster. This not only evoked mortal
peril to Britain itself but also the
contingent smashing of Britain's
hold on the Near and Middle East.
Frances withdrawal from the war
conceded with Italys entry on the
German side. This left pitifully
small British forces in Egypt and
Palestine confronting vastly larger
Italian forces in Libya and Ethiopia,
preparing to crush the slender Brit
ish defense in pincer movement.
Had this Italian plan succeeded, the
Suez Canal would have become an
Axis waterway from an Axisdomi-
mated Mediterranean to the Indian
Ocean. From what we now know,
Japan certainly would have struck
then, instead of a year and half
later, and the triumphant ends of
the Axis might have been able to
join forces, presumably in India.
That would have meant co-ordina-
ton of power and resources, oper-
ating on interior lines, which would
have been invincible.
The Illustration of this supreme
disaster is undoubtedly due to the
superb courage and foresight of Win
ston Churchill, then newly come to
the premiership. With truly Roman
fortitude, he sent reinforcements to
the Near and Middle East, including
the only armored division that
Britain then possessed. 1t was a
frightful gamble, since Britain was
thereby stripped Of almost all it's
trained and equipped ground troops.
AS Lord Halifax pointed out in his
address, delivered in Chicago: ITO
many it seemed an almost insane act
of optimism. 1t proved to be the
highest wisdom. For the men and
equipment sent at that time en-
abled us to beat off the italian
attack, to begin that long series of
operations which have finally
brought our armies into Tunis and
BiZerte."
Viewed in this perspective, the
larger aspects Of the Tunisian tri-
umph become fully apparent. For
the same victory which renders i'm
possible the strategic union Of the
Axis clinches that same unity for
the Allies. Once the Mediterranean
becomes a safe highway for Allied
conveys, we shall no longer be fight
ing two separate wars in Europe and
the Pacific. Our forces-land, sea
and air-Will be strategically con-
nected and co-ordinated for opera
tons planned and executed in truly
integrated fashion. Even though
the main Allied effort remains in the
European theater, Japan can be con-
tanned and checked more easily all
the way from Burma to Australia.
Likewise, our consolidated grip on
the Near and Middle East will render
aid to Russia more feasible and will
limit whatever local successes a re-
neWed Axis drive against the Soviet
Union this summer might gain.
The next few months presumably
will witness tremendous activity
throughout the European war thea
ter, perhaps with setbacks as we'll as
advances. In that complex struggle,
it will be we'll to bear in mind the
larger strategic gains which the
triumph in North Africa has given
us beyond any reasonable likelihood
of reversal