EM EM : monthly magazine - 01.07.1941, Blaðsíða 3

Em Em
3
Military Experts Predict Long War
Unless We Step In
S5y CHABLES P. STEWART Ts
l , ' Central Press Columnist
t MILITARY men in Washington
generally are forecasting a long
war — unless f the SUnited $ States
gets^lnto^it Ton ' a í large ‘T scale,
* not alone with
s u p p 1 i e s, but
w i t h _ soldiers,
too. _ __
Experts^s a y
they don’t bér
líeve Herr Hitj
ler can effect a
landing, of any
c o ns e q u ence
upon English
soil. They agree
that he may
drop a few par-
, •* achutists, « b u t
Winston Churchill only to be cap«
_ _ 'tured as fast as
they hit the ground. To accom-
plish anything worth calling an in-
vasion, the experts’ consensus is
that he’ll have to ferry an enor-
mous force across the channel or
the North sea and they’re very
confident that he can’t do it—that
he couldn’t get the would-be invad-
ers ashore, even if they succeeded
in arriving within wading distanc.e
of John Bull’s beaches. And com-
petent critics 1 think the i British
fleet is quite competent to prevent
that. Their judgment is that Adolf
won’t try it, either, ’ because he
must realize that his losses would
be enormously greater than : he
could stand. In fact, they argue
that a German army of invasion,
by water, simply^would be com-
pletely wiped out. . _____ -4
The psychological moment for'a
German attempt at an invasion, if
any, of the.island, aceording to our
American observers, ‘ would have
been ^directly after France’s col-
lapse." Having let that semi-oppor-
tunity pass, tljey argue, the Fueh-
rer isn’t a bit likely to undertake
any invading now—and if he does,'
they predict that it will be his fin-.
ish. ---- _ ._ 1
P U) Churchlll Strategy ',*" ~ ,i
f.íTrue,^ Prime \ Minister Winston
Churchill and other leading Brit-'
ons keep í vociferously warning
their countrymen, as if they felt
certain the Nazis already are gird-
ing for a speedy invasion move-
ment. Our skeptical military folk,
however, surmise that Winston,’
,et al, merely are doing their best
>to scare their public, just as Bill
KmídfiemltLÍíavy iBecretary * Knox
ív: i their chorus are straining,
thcir vocal chords to scare us. For,
if a man has plenty of fight in hisi
system, the worse he’s scared the
uglier he is. That’s notorius.
So, as our military authorlties
see the situation, England can1
stand the Axis oíf indefinitely. j
But that doesn’t mean that the
British can lick Hitler, thereby
ending the war. Though perhaps
Hitler can’t get to England, to
score a knockout, neither can the
Britons dispose of him without in-
vading Germany—Italy not being
regarded as of much importance,
providing • the Nazis can be con-
clusively thumped.
Now, an invasion of Germany
can’t but be a formidable chore.
Well-posted commentators cal-
culate that the job would call for
at least 5,000,000 man power. Am-;
ple equipment alone wouldn’t suf-
fice. Men, and lots of ’em, would be
essential. |
And Britain can’t put a force of
5,000,000 able-bodied scrappers into1
the field. It hasn’t got that many,
or anywhere near it.
The conclusion, then,' seems to
be that there’s got to be an inva-
sion of somebody by somebody to
end the pending conflict. The best
guess is that the Axis isn’t equal
to pulling off suCh an invasion of
England and that the British
aren’t equal to invading Germany
effectively vv.gpe*
i vSo_what?ji _ v’ptj
& • May Last for Years \
rWhy, it would appear that the
strife, as it’s being conducted to-
day, must string out intermidably
—maybe for years. ».
If it’s a fact that Herr Hitler,
can’t invade England now, indica-1
tions are that he never will be able
to do it, since he already has about
all the help that he ever is likely to
get. Britain, though, has one imag-
inable helper—us. John Bull and
Uncle Sam doubtless could mus-
ter, between them, 5,000,000 men.
(e Once in Germany, the presump-
tion is that those 5,000,000 could
make things so unplcasant for the
Germans that they themselves
would overthrow Adolf, totalitari-
anism would go into the discard,
and everything would be lovely.
Am I arguing for active Ameri-
can participation in that war ? Not
by a blank sight. I’m only epito- j
mizing what our military experts;
-- ■ ,™ .!
Pie Queen
Seventeen-year-old Elsie Benson, of
Geneva, N. Y., was named winner
in the annual national cherry pie
baking contest in Chicago. Shown
sampling her pastry, Elsie gets
$100 and a trip to the national
capital.
Count Pierre de Chaponay, cousin
of the King of Belgium and son of
the Princess of Orleans, arrives in
New York from Lisbon. The count
wants to joiu the KAF but is too
• ... as yet. -_j