NEWS OF THE WEEK
MR. EDEN gave a just and sober estimate of the course of the war during its first seven weeks in his broad- cast talk on Wednesday. Herr Hitler, who initiated the war, has already lost the initiative in it. He has also lost all his potential allies, with the doubtful but admittedly important exception of Russia. Neither his submarine nor his aerial attacks have produced results calculated to dismay us or to gratify him. And the winter that is now setting in will fall with far heavier rigour on the Germans in the Siegfried Line than on the Allies in the Maginot, and equally on the German population at home than on the French or British. The immense efforts for which the British Dominions are preparing have barely begun to make them- selves felt, and the amendment of the Neutrality Bill in the United States—for this now seems assured—will open access to almost inexhaustible supplies of munitions. But while all this is true it justifies no sort of facile optimism. Herr Hitler is in full control of the German people. He has now given up all hope of a bloodless victory, and since he cannot force a protracted war he may strike swiftly and hard. The civil and military conferences in Berlin this week suggest that. The war may well be about to enter another and a stern phase. By land, sea and air, as well as in the diplomatic field, all the advantages appear to be with the Allies, but it must be recognised that victory will only be bought by heavy sacrifice.
