Rumblings in the East

With the current news from Libya and the Crimea, the star which the complacent West had begun to see over the Eastern front seems to be sputtering and growing dim. Of course this is not the first time since the Allied offensives in Africa and in Russia that temporary revivals of Nazi power have appeared. Nor is it the first time since 1939-or even the first time since the close of the Chamberlain administration-that the British have openly expressed a lack of confidence in the conduct of the war. But while Rommel had the English with their backs to the Mediterranean so often that both sides were becoming bored, he had never before finally and conclusively pushed them into it. And although the Soviet counter-offensive had frequently stalled and even receded momentarily, the German counter-counter-offensive has never threatened so important a key as Kharkov, capable of undoing a winter and spring of Russian blood. Nor did reverses on all fronts usually come at once; this time there is nothing that the coddling press can play up; this time the optimists have no "buts."

In short, the report has come home again that we are getting no place. Not only getting no place, but getting no place with spectacular success. We have realized this at various intervals already. It was common knowledge after the Greek bust, for instance, that the Allies were not only experts at losing battles heroically and gracefully, but that they were doing it every time.

Recently we have been grazing calmly on Russian success, confident that Germany was losing the war. We are still confident that we are going to win it in the distant future, but it was clear from yesterday's newsstands that we are not winning it now. The cold, undernourished, under-equipped, demoralized Germans are still a match for the Russians. They are strong enough to take Sevastopol; they may be strong enough to retake Kharkov and the gateway to the Caucasus and oil. While the Reds have stopped the strongest that Hitler has sent against them, the converse is also true.

The obscure African situation is even less encouraging. It has been reported that the British were superior in equipment, perhaps even in numbers. Observers have said that British offense was also slow and delayed, with all punches pulled; that whenever Rommel was on the verge of defeat, he was suddenly let alone. The question was always, "I wonder where Rommel will strike next?" and never, "Where will we strike Rommel next?" But whether or not this was so, months of effort in Libya have been lost, as well as the opportunity to close the battle for Britain's life line.

It is high time we began winning the war in the present.