South Yorkshire Times, October 17, 1942
Three Speeches
After a period of silent concentration on the grim realities of war the last ten days have produced three speeches from the national leaders of three of the chief combatants.
Hitler set the ball rolling, Mr. Churchill interposed a polished, oration at Edinburgh, and an appropriate Columbus Day fireside chat from Mr. Roosevelt completed the trio.
In these days when the atmosphere of Europe is heavy with suspense, and when the war seems to be poised at a transitional stage ready at any moment to swing savagely into a new rhythm, such pronouncements are sifted with more than ordinary attentiveness.
There was a significant change of tone in Hitler’s speech, and, discounting every element of trickery and treachery, for which all his statements must be probed, it was possible to see clearly that the Fuehrer’s notions about the progress of the war are undergoing considerable modification. His talk was largely of the unassailable position which he claimed Germany had now secured. He plaintively listed the great victories of the German army, scornfully contrasted them with the efforts of the Allies, and spoke of the successes of the Reichswehr as though they constituted an end in themselves, instead of a means to an end which constantly eludes their leader’s grasp. On the whole, even the most thoroughly hypnotised members of Hitler’s audience must have left the meeting feeling that the course of events was not as fully under Nazi control as could be wished. After all, people who have had the blitzkrieg technique drummed into their heads for two or three years are apt to be a little bewildered when told that the national tactics now hinge on a policy of sitting tight and hoping that the other side will get tired of the war first.
Mr. Churchill and Mr. Roosevelt were both able to strike a less negative note. The Premier, robustly urbane as ever, made no rash claims or promises, but dropped one or two cheerful hints, of which the most acceptable was the news that shipping losses, though still serious, have been markedly reduced since the early part of the year. He made a shrewd analysis not only of Hitler’s recent speech, but also of the motives behind the senseless outrage perpetrated against British prisoners of war, characterising this as a diversionary gesture designed to turn the eyes of the world, and those of his own people in particular, away from the ghastly and unrequited slaughter of German soldiers in the East. Guarded in utterance as the Prime Minister was, with his present assessment of the position as “a stern and sombre moment,” it was obvious that he was conscious of satisfaction In the way things are shaping for the United Nations. Though “deadly dangers still beset us,” our bitter experience of perils past should enable us to meet and surmount them all.
Mr. Roosevelt’s unemotional realism and rock-like confidence made his fireside chat read like a sentence of doom for the Axis Powers. The President’s cool, inflexible leadership of the virile and varying sections of opinion which go to make up the national outlook of America, is an unfailing tonic to our cause., He looks ahead with clear gaze and untroubled spirit, seeing not only victory ahead, but the implications of victory. “It is useless to win a war unless it stays won.” How pungently the American idiom can compress into eleven words the war aim of the multitude.