South Yorkshire Times – Saturday 22 May 1943

Taken at the Flood

Mr. Churchill’s Congress speech on Wednesday, while subject to the obvious limitations of the occasion, contained many portents of encouragement for the Allied cause. He made it clear that having obtained such a favourable position the leaders of the United Nations are doing everything they can to exploit their success. The customary note of caution was characteristically introduced, and indeed it must never be forgotten so long as any part of the Axis displays willingness or ability to carry on the struggle. But it was made evident that our affairs are almost miraculously improved, even in comparison with what they were less than a year ago. The Prime Minister made honest acknowledgment of the part played by the United States in this mending of our fortunes, and fittingly underlined the comradeship between British and American soldiers which has now been fast forged in the furnace of battle. There was cold comfort for the Axis in Mr. Churchill’s firm assurance that before long our enemies would be provided with further examples of the ability of Democracies to wage successful warfare. Russia’s responsibility, starkly recapitulated in terms of the fighting power engaged, was another point which Mr. Churchill brought forward in suggesting that before 1943 is out Britain and America are bent on diverting some of this Nazi strength away from the Eastern Front. He made it clear, however, that our diversion would be governed by what was sensible and practicable, and was emphatic in postulating that whatever steps are taken they must not give the enemy the opportunity of confronting us with any fresh disasters. This may clearly be taken to mean that when the Allies strike they will do so with every reasonable contingency weighed, and the appropriate counter prepared.

Though he expressed his abiding conviction that the defeat of Germany would inevitably lead to the defeat of Japan, while the discomfiture of Japan would not necessarily lead to the overthrow of Germany, Mr. Churchill indicated that the present American conferences are largely focussed on the Far Eastern campaign. He promised a grim fate for the cities and munition centres of Japan, and his tight-lipped reference to the fate of American airmen, callously and illegally executed by the Japanese, showed that one of the highest priorities on this front is that of getting within bombing range and then giving the instigators of Pearl Harbour a lethal dose of their own medicine. Fanatical as they are, it does not seem probable that the Japanese will be able for long to stand up to punishment such as is being meted out to Germany at present. The target is both smaller and more vulnerable. American and British air forces are inexorably reaching out towards it. They mean to get there; they will get there. When they do no power on earth can save the flimsy cities of the Emperor’s domain. If President Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill are concentrating, though no doubt not exclusively, on this sector of their global strategy, we may be pardoned for drawing the inference that in the West plans are already far advanced and may not be long in unfolding. It is patent that more was scheduled at Casablanca than has yet been achieved and now that President and Premier have reviewed the progress of their project, remembering that: “there is a tide in the affairs of man, which, taken at the flood leads on to fortune,” we await the “further examples” of Democratic enterprise with as much confidence as interest.

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