South Yorkshire Times – Saturday 01 January 1944
Into the New Year
As we stand on the threshold of the New Year there is an air of expectancy abroad which marks out 1944 as a year of destiny even before its first minutes have grown into hours.
The Old Year has indeed served us well and the armed Forces of the Allies have seen it out with a flourish. The sinking of the *“Scharnhorst” was a wonderful Christmas present from the British Navy, to be quickly followed by a nice bag of German destroyers in the Bay of Biscay.
In Russia the Red Army remorselessly presses on with its task of disinfesting the soil of the Soviet; in Italy Britain and America are still going forward; the Americans and their Australian and New Zealand comrades in arms continue to jockey the Japanese from one island vantage point to another; and here at the heart of events the task of picking the victory team has been well begun.
Our prospects are brighter, our solid achievements more satisfactory than at the beginning of any previous year during the course of the war. At the same time, it is well-that we should recall that already this war has exceeded in duration that which we came to regard as (and still call) the Great War. It is as certain as anything can be that this time we are in for a much more exacting ordeal in the sense that greater endurance will be demanded of us; tougher morale to withstand the dangers of weariness as the bitter task drags painfully towards completion.
Already we have undergone much that we were spared in the last war; immediate threat of invasion, murderous aerial bombardment of our cities and even shelling of our South- Eastern coastline. On the other hand, we have been better organised to meet these trials. With talk of the Allied counter-invasion from the West on almost all lips, it is cheering to think that we are within measurable distance of the last round as far as Germany is concerned. It is also comforting to know that before the bell has sounded for this round, we have dealt our adversary some damaging blows at long range by sea and in the air. Doubtless there will be further softening up before the invasion fleet is launched. But until we have established our bridgeheads and have once more gained a foothold in the cockpit of Europe, we shall be wise to avoid any too precise preconceptions about the end of the war. The Germans, after twenty-one years of preparation dreamed their dreams of quick conquest. But their Fuehrer and his generals have lived to recall ruefully the hard truth that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Victory eluded them at the Straits of Dover, on the banks of the Volga and within sight of the Nile delta.
We shall not, we must not, make the same mistake. It behoves us to reserve our exultation, and redouble our efforts on the home front so that when zero hour for the grand assault arrives, we shall put forth in fact and in spirit a total effort which will neither falter nor relax until the Nazis have been irredeemably smashed. We must keep in mind also the further duty which awaits us beyond the victory in the West, the settlement with Japan. It is a prospect calling for steadfast dedication, unflinching firmness of purpose. In that mood let us step forward into 1944.