The Wilmington morning star., 1944-12-17
interpreting
The War y
BY kIRkE L. SIMPSON
Associated Press Wa ~. .oN

r,,o war Analyst
There is no rift in the war cIo'',
gathering over Nazi Germ.n,. 1''
the Christmas season draws " a
Look where they would, tbs ~.
pie of the besieged reich co T'G peo'
nothing but por, ents of conn., a Se'
tai defeat in the battle front 49,. To-
Only in the inter-Allied poIcr a'e"s WI;
political discords could thew fir an
ray of hope that the blood ' ,bai
resistance their Nazi masters b Saa
decreed for them might con l'a,'
ably win for them something ia''
than unconditional surrender NS'
That hope probably is as i1lu,o.,
as the reliance Nazi placed in r..
bot bombs to turn the tide Of ~,
feat. Whatever the DIVERGENCE
views between London, Moscom VI
and Washington as to ad inter; s
treatment of liberated or hatII a
Grated nations in Europe or a.
post war European boundaries =.
peace plans, Big Three unit in r,H
itary action against the CONN.,,
foe still is the dominating tac,o,
on European battle fronts.
Clear
That was pa ent in the event,
that have brought elements Of CIV
Allied armies in the west nm ,o
German soil from the Karlsr,b.
corner on the central Rhine 10 tbs
Anthem gateway in Holland !,
was clearly demonstrated, too n
the Russian sweep through HIM.
gary to clutch closely at doomed
Budapest and threaten Vienna.
Implicit in the tangled and trm.
blesome situation in Greece which
has brought he Churchill war min.
istry under fire and British troons
of liberation into armed condjct
with Greek factionists are circum.
stances which set it apart from
the Anglo-American rift over Ital.
ian political developments. Liber.
ated Italy below the Allied-Nazj
battleline is a military zone Of &C.
ton only in the sense that Allied
supply lines far behind the front
run through it.
That could not be true in Greece
at the end of the Balkan peninsula
while Nazi garrisons retain mold
on Crete or any islands Of the
eastern Mediterranean, the Aegean
sea or anywhere on the Adratic
flank of the Balkan peninsula. Lib.
Grated Greece would be a logical
base of Allied operations to sweep
the Aegean free of enemy outposts
and establish short-line lend-leaSe
communication routes with Russia.
Churchill stressed to parliament
this distinction between the Italian
situation and that in Greece in de.
Tending the British course in
Greece. In Greece as in Belgium
and Holland immediate policy
flowed, he said, from the Allied
military high command rather
than from Downing street, In the
one case General Wilson, former
Allied overall commander in The
Mediterranean theater, and in the
other General Eisenhower dictated
the procedure in efforts to main
tain order.
The implication is that Greece,
Belgium and Holland are still
strictly military operations thea
tiers in Allied eyes and that order
must be maintained by military
force if necessary to insure mill
tary supply lines close to the fight
ing fronts or as bases OF possible
contemplated new military moves
In any event, the internal tur'
MOL in Athens and elsewhere is
Greece tends to delay whatever
plans may have been laid by the
Allies to exploit fully the Nazl re-
treat from the Balkans under The
pressure of the Russian drive
through Rumania and Hungary