South Yorkshire Times – Saturday 08 May 1943
Shadows Of Strife
To those of us who have often looked askance at the sheer blatancy of German propaganda, the Russo-Polish rift comes as a sharp reminder of the poisonous potency of this new weapon of war. In their conduct of warfare the Nazis, true to German tradition, are nothing if not thorough, and propaganda is as tightly harnessed to their chariot wheels as the aircraft and motor manufacturing industries. In the use of this item in their armoury they are as sly and subtle as in the ordering of their troops in battle array. The pity of it is that Soviet and Polish Governments have allowed themselves to be disturbed by such obvious machinations. An estrangement of this sort in the Allied camp is bound to have a harmful effect and no efforts must be spared to bring about a reconciliation. This, of course, is fully realised by Britain and America, the other Allied Powers chiefly concerned. In the meantime, the Germans have gained the equivalent of a diplomatic victory, and have succeeded in emphasising the truth of the adage that the pen (or more properly in this case the voice) is mightier than the sword.
Another tender spot in the anatomy of the United Nations is the Giraud-De Gaulle question. Nothing could be much more delicate and complex than the task of adjusting the outlooks of these two leaders of a resurgent France, which seeks to keep the lists against its ancient enemy. The checks and false starts on the course towards complete rapprochement are bewildering to the average straightforward Briton. The plain man can only see the urgency of uniting all French resistance in a common front, content to concentrate on the prime task of ousting the Nazi invaders from French soil. It has to be acknowledged that a policy of expediency has so far successfully carried the United Nations over some exceedingly thin ice in North Africa, but it is not exactly inspiring to contemplate this as a precedent for what may be expected as the liberation of each of the conquered European countries is achieved. America, tolerant and generous to a degree only possible in such a true home of democracy, has lately indicated that even her monumental patience is not exhaustible. The slippery Vichy-ism of Martinique, after very allowance had been made, is now overtly censured, and it will not be surprising if the State Department demonstrates its displeasure in a more concrete fashion before very long.
These are questions which underline an essential, but in many respects dangerous, difference between the forces of the Axis and the cause of freedom. Of this no one is more astutely aware than Goebbels. Fundamentally, the solidarity of the United Nations, based on so much more than mere material affinities, is hardly likely to be seriously breached. But in their rapidly straitening circumstances the Germans are certain to be prodigal in broadcasting the seeds of disunity. And these seeds, while promising no real crop, can have the nuisance value of the land mine, and may prove of equal worth in delaying and obstructing the Allies. Such shadows of strife have to be reckoned with, and swept away before they assume the proportions of permanent discord.