NEWS OF THE WEEK
TUESDAY speeches seem slow in producing the desired results. Herr von Ribbentrop's oration at Danzig on Tuesday week was to have ended the period of quiescence. " Now," according to Berlin, " real war begins." It has not begun yet and, apart from perpetual rumour, shows little sign of doing so. M. Molotov, on Tuesday of this week, was to have made statements that would affect the whole course of the War. He said nothing that changed the general situation in any respect, except in sa far as his insistence on Russia's neutrality changed it for the worse for Germany. The out- look remains perplexing, and no one, pretty clearly, is more perplexed by it than Herr Hitler and his entourage. Prediction is valueless because the ordinary criteria do not apply. Quite apart from Herr Hitler's own incalculable mentality, political considerations influence, and sometimes dominate, military at every point. A mass attack on the Maginot Line is still talked of, but quite apart from the desperate nature of the move, particularly in view of the weather conditions, there is the fact that it would fall almost entirely on the French, with whom the Germans, according to Herr Hitler and Herr von Ribbentrop, have no quarrel. Odds therefore are rather in favour of the threatened sea and air attacks on Britain coming to something before long. And Holland is still in serious danger. Herr Hitler is not blind to the fact that an invasion of that country, coupled with assiduous assurances of respect for Belgium's neutrality, would cut Holland off from any help by land from France and Britain.
Previous page
