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Show jBRITAIN SEES ' IT THROUGH COMPLIMENTS OF THE GANNETT NEWSPAPERS Frank Gannett, head of the newspaper group which bears hi3 name and the author of this report, recently visited wartime Britain at the invitation invita-tion of the British Government. Govern-ment. He inspected American and British army encampments, encamp-ments, visited airdromes and talked with crews of allied air forces and witnessed departure depar-ture of bombers on demolition missions over Germany. He was in many areas 'which had felt the full fury of the Nazi Blitz and saw reconstruction Stalin is now determined to, break up Germany into small parts so that like Humpty Dumpty, aU the king's horses and all the men will never be able to put it together again. Especially he is expected to deal harshly with Prussia for from that state war has sprung over the centuries. What Stalin will have to say at the peace table is a matter of spec, ulation. All the leaders in Britain were delighted with the results of the Moscow Confrence. When Foreign For-eign Secretary Anthony Eden returned re-turned to London, I heard Mm make his report In the House o Commons. He was given a great ovation and there is deep appreciation appreci-ation of his part in making this conference successful. This conference has made Secretary Sec-retary Eden a still more powerful member of the government. He states can this cooperation, Russia w J One thing is certain No one knows just what Premier Stalin is Snkiniorwhatheisplann; have been told he has the best SkL f a" any one has ever seen Vmd that he never dlsctose. in the Sghtest degree any reaction of any sort. The British people are ready to take him at his word and accpt in full his promise of coop eration. They hope and praj ' they will not be disappointed and She will be as eager for world peace as are the rest of us. One of the great events of my visit was an afternoon with Gen. Smuts, Premier of the Union of South Africa. I regard him as one of the great men of our times. He Sa gat soul and a talk with Mm was an inspiration. General Smuts related the details de-tails of his first meeting with Win- ston Churchill. It was at me had gone to Africa as a newspaper of the Boer War and Churchill correspondent. Apparently over-zealous over-zealous for his native land he was carrying weapons when he was taken prisoner by the Boer forces He was taken before General Smuts who was to decide what to do with this young man who professed pro-fessed that he was merely a correspondent cor-respondent and not a soldier. Gen. Smuts decided to have him put in prison but Churchill later escaped And now Prime Minister Churchill summons Premier Smuts to London. Lon-don. He is given a place in the Cabinet and is adviser to the same man he once sent to prison. General Smuts is a great admirer admir-er of Churchill. He believes he is the man of the hour and that his leadership not only saved Great Britain but civilization and he pays him great tribute for his wonder-tul wonder-tul leadership. General Smuts is also most appreciative ap-preciative of what the United States has done in this war. He has made several visits to America and knows well this country. He is a great admirer of America and the American people. Now In his last few years and is generally has developed a great deal In the regarded as the most likely successor succes-sor to Prime .Minister Churchill whenever the latter may leave office. of-fice. There is no question that before the Moscow Conference there was some misgiving in Britain about Russia. There had not been frank and open cooperation and there were fears that Russia might want to go it alone. The Moscow Conference showed that Russia was willing to cooperate cooper-ate and the conference in Teheran between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin gives still greater promise of complete cooperation in the prosecution of the war and in conferences con-ferences after the war ends. There is no doubt that Russia will emerge from the war a great one-sixth of all the land on the world power. She has control of globe, has tremendous resources and a great population. At the peace table Russia can insist on her own program and she is likely to have her own way. Britain and America may protest but neither of these nations, nor the two together, to-gether, would want to begin a war with Russia over any question that which already had taken place. He was received by Prime Minister Churchill and other leaders of the British government and talked with high American and Allied military heads. Much of what he saw and heard cannot be revealed at this time. Be came into possession of much significant material which does not violate security regulations reg-ulations material which he incorporated in a report he wrote after his return to the United States and- was published pub-lished serially in Gannett newspapers. Those instal-I instal-I ments will be published in THE HERALD from time to time. WHAT ABOUT RUSSIA ? What about Russia? That question ques-tion everyone Is asking. We all know Russia is doing a grand job on the eastern front, that the Red forces are advancing and that they are wearing down Hitler's war machine. The British as well as Americans appreciate the great contribution that Stalin and his forces are making in this war and they give credit to the Russians for the present favorable outlook. 74th year, General Smuts is as keen, alert and vigorous as he was at 60. He is planning another visit vis-it to America as soon as the war ends and he is looking forward, not backward. He is thinking about the future of the world. General Smuts was emphatic in expressing the hope that America and Russia would be close friends and work together. "Together,' he said. "Russia and the United States can pretty well determine the future of the world. Great Britain of course will do her full part as she now is doing. She is most eager to join in any constructive construc-tive plans for the postwar period." may come up at the peace table. Such a development is most unu-likely unu-likely even if grave differences should arise. Poland definitely is afraid that that Russia may extend its influence influ-ence over that country and wipe out an independent Poland. As Russia advances westward, there is no telling where she may stop or what countries she may take over after the war. Britain has been bled white by these four years of struggle. At the end of the war she will have a great navy and considerable air power, but she will not want to have trouble with as great a nation na-tion as Russia is sure to be. To what extent the United States would interfere in any of Russia's demands is a question, but all the British people ardently hope that Great Britain and the United Again and again I heard that the battle of Stalingrad was the turning point in the war. It was a Gettysburg for Hitler. His advance ad-vance into the Caucasus with its rich oil fields and his plan to go through to the Persian Gulf were definitely stopped. Hitler lost at Stalingrad a great army and he has not been able to recover from the defeat. He has been pushed back and back and he seems utterly utter-ly unable to hold the Russians. Stalin has been lavish in the way he has thrown countless thousands thou-sands of men into battle. His strategy strat-egy is to fight furiously with all possible power, in the hope that he can bring an early victory. Obviously Ob-viously he can't go on forever pouring millions onto bloody battle fields. His drives are wearing down his forces as well as the forces for-ces "of his foe. Nobody in Britain expects Stalin to stop at any imaginary boundary line. He intends to keep right on going as long as he can until he has crushed Hitler. I was told that he hates Hitler intensely because Hitler broke faith with him and tore up the non-aggression treaty which they had signed. |