Show G R E EEN EN Washington D C 1941 s GREATEST TRAGEDY You don t have to watt walt for tor his historians to record the fact that the greatest tragedy of the year 1941 as far as this war IS if concerned Is the way the British have tWiddled theIr thumbs watched the Russians and done almost nothing except cheer Over three months have passed since Hitler sent his Ius mechanized masses hurtling across the Pe Russian border and in that t t me the British sent only a trickle of help Yet the British knew that pro prolonged prolonged prolonged longed Russian resistance was the b chance they had of defeat defeating mg Hitler They also knew that H tier s tactic always has been to pick his vict vIet ms one by one Yet realizing this the British have done virtually the same thing Poland did when was in III invaded invaded what d d when Bulgaria was invaded and what Turkey did when was invaded They have merely sat on the side sidel nes sent a plus a miss on to Moscow taken a good long rest and rest and cheered Second Front Fronts Mean h le Ie the general staff ad advisers advisers of both the British and Amer AmerIcan American American Ican armies have bluntly warned that the Russ ans were sure to be defeated unless a second front was created against Hitler This second front against Hitler meant of course a Brit sh expedit t force landing landing- landingin in m France Holland or Spam Spain Th s quest on has been discussed carefully behind the scenes but the British have wanted t vo th one was tanks most of theirs having been de demol demol demol mol shed at Dunkirk the second has been an American Expedit t force to help them The British d d not really push this idea of an A E F for tor they knew pout cally it was ble for Roosevelt But nevertheless they d d want company m attempting to toland toland toland land troops on the Continent They had plenty of troops in England m England intact fact so many that there has been restlessness and bad morale be because because because cause of vity It is true that these troops are not completely and are sadly lacking in m tanks But there IS cons belief that they were sufficiently to make a land landIng landing landing Ing m in Spam Spain from G and that in m France the local people would have r sen up to welcome them However all summer long the BrItIsh have maintained an after you Alphonse attitude ie lethe the situation in m Russia has become darker and darker darker-as darker as every min tary expert knew was inevitable All of which brings up the vital question of exactly who is the dom dam mat ng factor in lD the now virtual Anglo American alliance We have thrown a very large p le Ie of ch ps Into the gamble on a British vie VIC VICtory tory yet no one seems to know whether the British are taking ad advice advice advice vice from us or whether we are tak taking taking ing rig orders from the British President President dent Roosevelt and Harry Hopkins may know but if ff so they have not informed in m informed formed those closest to them HITLER SOIL S OIL PROBLEM Most of the reports from Russia look black and to U S army ob observers observers observers servers they have been that way for tor some t me However one en encouraging factor stands out This is the question of oil Without o oil no army or navy can move And despite the tremendous areas taken by Hitler in all Europe he st U II faces two years after start starting mg ing the war almost the same oil shortage as before Rumania seized chiefly for tor her oil oilfields oilfields oilfields fields has a capacity of 8 tons annually However the Rus Russians Russians bombed tie the Rumanian oil oilfields oilfields oilfields fields so badly that production IS ISnow isnow isnow now down to about 4 tons or orless orless orless less Germany itself has a c gasolIne production of about 3 S tons mak ng a total annual pro product product product duct on today of about 7 tons tonsOn tonsOn tonsOn On the other hand Germany is us rig ng oil and gas to operate its army at the rate of about 25 tons tonsa a year most of which has come from reserves It is est mated that Germany st 11 has reserves on hand of 10 or perhaps 15 million tons All of wh ch means that the real realp realp realp p w will l come next spring In other words H tier has enough oil and gas to last through the win winI winter I ter but by the end of the w he absolutely must take the Russian Russum oil fields of the Caucasus In fact fact he is sure to stage a terr fic fie drive to take them even earlier The tre tremendous tremendous Nazi sacrifices to take Kiev and Odessa all were because e those two cities are the path of the Nw Naz march to the Caucasus Russian Chances During the coming winter however er cr the Russians should be able to hold out The Caucasian mountains are high and rugged The Russians have a huge force in this area The British also have rushed troops through Iran to the bord border r of o othe the Caucasus However if Hitler Hiller s gasoline s tu to IS n even more desperate than and Ind sated which above above which may be quite then possible possible then he is almost sure to put the pincers on Turkey harder than ever before in m e der to drive on the Caucasus |