NEWS OF THE WEEK
MSTALIN'S broadcast on Wednesday night was com- . pletely candid regarding Russia's losses of territory. Fortunately she has plenty of that to lose. So far, according to M. Stalin, not only most of Lithuania and Latvia, but parts of Western White Russia and the Western Ukraine have passed into enemy hands. Very little of this, it may be noted, is Russian territory proper. The Baltic States passed into Russian possession under duress less than two years ago, and the Western Ukraine presumably refers to the Polish Ukraine, with Lemberg, or Lwow, as its centre, and that became Russian only after the German invasion of Poland in Sep- tember, 1939. Western White Russia includes the Minsk district, and the situation there is still obscure. The Russians claim to be holding Minsk still, but German Panzer divisions have undoubtedly passed beyond it. But unless the infantry can follow them up in time they may be isolated and destroyed. M. Stalin's speech opened up the prospect of protracted resistance, with the Russian armies falling back as may be necessary, but with no idea of quarter or truce. That is the right strategy, and if it can be successfully pursued the German attack on Russia will ultimately fail. Swedish opinion suggests that the results of the first German onslaught have not reached expectations, and that the. onslaught is beginning to slacken. That seems not impossible.
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