Evening star., 1943-11-29
Political BIock-Buster
Anticipated Soon
By Mai. George Fieldino Eliot.


Even for reporter who has for three
weeks been absent from his usual haunts
in New York and Washington, 1t is i'm
possible to shake of the feeling that
something of worldwide importance is
about to happen. This feeling does not
arise solely from the widespread reports
that great men may be meeting or about
to meet, The expression used by one
speculative dispatch writer just about
hits the mark: "A political block buster
is about to be dropped on Germany and
Japan" That somehow seems very
likely, and the mere announcement that
great men have met and talked-when
it comes to be made-will hardly have
the appearance of block buster at all.
II the enemy haven't already guessed
that much, they are not as good guessers
as they used to be. Something more
than that Is in the air.
An item that seems to fit in very we'll
with this suggestion is the rain of real
block-busters that has been hammering
Berlin to ruins. 1t Is difficult to imag-
Inc a more effective method of paving
the way for political smash effect, than
this series of terrific attacks on the
German capital. Berlin is so much the
center and hub of German political
life and of the whole administration OF
the Nazi Reich, that the effects of the
blows at the capital are felt in every
government headquarters, military and
civil, throughout Germany and Ger
man-occupied territory.
The psychological results Of these
blows will be suffered by all the German
leaders, who are, after all, individual
human beings who cannot fail to react
to the terrors all about them and who
cannot help, however bold their outward
seeming, to ask themselves in their in
most hearts whether, after all, there is
any hope Of resisting enemies who can
strike such frightful blows, or any hope
OF asking terms from foes whose ulti-
mate power to enforce what terms they
like is becoming daily more evident.
These feelings will extend not only to
the top-ranking leaders, but to all the
underiings, to the men who in daily
consultation and daily work attend to
the infinite detail of minor decisions
and planning upon which the ma ior
decisions OF government and nation
at war must be based. We need not
expect these men to revolt, nor to con-
vey In official papers to their superiors
their real feelings; but the despair
which may seize on many of them at
the sight Of their ruined capital at
their own narrow escapes, perhaps from
death, at the slaughter which may have
been visited upon those dear to them.
at the vacant places which may have to
be hlled by those less worthy than the
late incumbents, must inevitably color
all that they say and do and plan in
their respective official capacities. and
so come in the end to affect the charac-
ter OF the higher decisions and the
greater plans.
Also, the bombing of Berlin is in some
sense sign and portent to the jackals
who had gathered in the days of Ger
man victory to lap up the crumbs that
fell from the conqueror,s table. There
can be little ease tonight in Budapest
IN Bucharest, in Sofia or in the guarded
sanctums Of the Quislings of subject
Europe. The bombs are falling on Ber-
lin, the great laundering bombs which
are not respecters of the persons of
Fuehrers and Reichmarshals; the capi-
tai OF that Reich which was to endure
Tor thousand years is staining the
night sky with the scarlet flames of
ruin, and those who came for the crumbs
may well be edging toward the exit.
1t is impossible to think of an at
mosphere in which a political block
buster would explode with greater effect,
nor need We strain our imaginations
greatly to arrive at the belief that this
state Of affairs has been deliberately
brought about, with malice afore-
thought, against Adolf Hitler and all
who still fight at his side.
Nor is it worth while to speculate as
10 the exact character of the political
block-buster, for the dropping of which
the hand OF the bombardier may even
now be reaching for the bomb release.
One has feeling about these things, and
this reporter has feeling that when it
1alls, this block-buster will prove en-
tlrely adequate to its opportunities and
entirely worthy of those who have
launched it upon the enemy.
(Copyrisht, 1943, New York Tribune ,nc,