General Smuts Foretells Victory
General Smuts is a statesman who weighs his words, and it was in no mood of paradox that he declared in a broadcast on judl Saturday that Germany is winning victories and losing the war. nee( He commends Britain's action in going to the help of Greece, and insists that the war will not be settled in the Balkans— Hitler as the aggressor who lives on aggression must lose the war unless he can successfully attack the fortress of Britain or the vital lines by which she lives. The " life-lines " to which he alluded are the North Atlantic, the route round the Cape, and to a lesser degree the Mediterranean. Just as Mr. Churchill has been exhorting us to keep a sense of proportion about the progress of the war, so General Smuts tells us to " view things in their proper perspective." Greece has been tem- porarily lost, though it is to our lasting credit that we went to her help. But we have " put the Axis on the scrap-heap " by virtually depriving Germany of her only ally—Italy, smashed in the African, Greek and Mediterranean campaigns. And the General reminds us that Hitler himself by his own actions has done for us what could not have been done without him, in bringing to our side a new ally, the United States. Hitler, in his view, by his diversions in the Balkans and elsewhere, is failing to face up to the issue which is the crux of the war, the survival of Britain and her sea power. If these continue to survive attack, Hitler will have lost the war.
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