From August 10 to September 10
BRITISH EMPIRE
Churchill in Moscow.—In mid-August Prime Minister Churchill, making his journey via the Mediterranean, paid a four-day visit to Moscow, August 12-16, for conferences with Soviet leaders. His party, which travelled in three Liberator planes, included his chief military aides and W. Averill Harriman as President Roosevelt’s special representative. The purpose was to “synchronize United Nations strategy,” and important decisions were no doubt reached, though announcements added no information as to the time and place of the second front promised in the Anglo-Russia treaty earlier in the year. On the return swing of his IS,000-mile journey Premier Churchill spent some time in visiting allied forces in Egypt and the Near East. He engaged also in conferences with General de Gaulle, with Marshal Jan Smuts, South African Premier, who came north for the meeting, with King Farouk, and with Nahas Pasha, the Egyptian Premier. During his tour General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson was made commander in chief of the British forces in Iraq and Iran. It was announced in September by Mr. Churchill that these forces might soon enter into active operations in support of Russia on the Caucasian front.
Impasse in India.—On August 7 the All-India Congress Committee ratified the resolution, adopted two days earlier by the smaller working committee, embodying their leader Mohandas Gandhi’s demand for immediate withdrawal of British power in India and his call for a civil disobedience campaign throughout the country. In a statement on the next day the British Government in India declared that acceptance of the proposal would subject the country at once to invasion from without by Japan and to civil war within. It declared that the congress did not speak for all India, and rejected the demands as “a betrayal of the Allies, whether in or outside India, betrayal in particular of Russia and China, and . . . betrayal of India’s fighting men.” It stood firmly on the Cripps proposals promising immediate steps toward self-rule after the war. In this position it appeared clear that the British Government had the support of the United States Administration. Secretary Hull in his July speech had stated, with evident reference to India, that freedom could be assured only to those peoples who showed themselves worthy of it. From liberal and radical elements in this country, however, appeals were made to the State Department calling for the use of its influence in support of India’s aspirations. Secretary Hull indicated that he had expressed informally, both to British and Indian leaders, his desire to aid in a settlement.
Following the call for a mass struggle on non-violent lines, the British Raj acted promptly by arresting Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, and nearly 200 other Congress leaders. Political meetings were suppressed. During the first week, widespread rioting occurred, including attacks on railway stations and public buildings, and there was bloodshed in several Indian cities. In the first week or ten days the natives killed numbered at least 100, but there was no report of British citizens killed. Thereafter the censorship tightened, while at the same time British authorities declared that the violence was “sporadic” and that the situation was well in hand.
New Zealand Premier in Washington.—On August 26 Prime Minister Peter Fraser of New Zealand visited Washington for conferences on war developments in the Pacific theater. In comment on his visit, President Roosevelt stated that he had extended invitations also to Prime Minister Curtin of Australia and to Marshal Jan Smuts of South Africa to come to the United States later in the year for similar discussions. Prime Minister Fraser was accompanied by Patrick J. Hurley, the U. S. Minister to New Zealand. During his stay in this country the Premier engaged in numerous conferences and attended the weekly session of the Pacific council. On his return home he spoke in warm terms of American plans for aggressive warfare in the Pacific, and in particular of assurances given by Admiral King regarding the future naval measures in that area.
LATIN AMERICA
Brazil Enters the War.—On August 26 the Brazilian Government declared “a state of belligerence between Brazil and the aggressor nations Germany and Italy, in view of acts of war against our sovereignty.” Since Japan had not been guilty of such acts against Brazil, this third member of the Axis was not included in the declaration. The first South American country to join with the United Nations (as she had been the only one of that continent to join with the Allied powers in the first World War), Brazil’s action was based primarily on the repeated attacks on Brazilian shipping. Up to the war declaration, Brazil had lost 19 ships, 169 officers and soldiers, and about 600 civilians as a result of submarine attacks. Six of her merchant vessels had been sunk within a few days of the declaration. Among the first war measures were the arrest of several thousand Germans and Italians and a tightening of blackout restrictions around the east coast bulge where air attack from African bases might be expected.
Before the close of the month Brazil’s nine sister republics of South America, including Argentina, had pledged a measure of support by extending nonbelligerent status, and Uruguay had gone further by announcing “complete solidarity” with the Brazilian policy, besides joining in the air and sea anti-submarine patrol. The Brazilian Navy and air forces had for several months previously taken full part in patrol and convoy work in the Atlantic. It was inevitable that Brazil’s final decision would have a strong influence on her neighbors, and would serve also as a deterrent to a pro-Axis swing in the mother countries, Portugal and Spain. In contrast with the neutral policy of his government, General Augustine P. Justo, former President of Argentina, at once went to Rio de Janeiro and tendered his services to the Brazilian military forces in the fight against the Axis.
CONTINENTAL EUROPE
Spanish Government Upset.—Dispatches of September 3 from Madrid announced a drastic reorganization of General Franco’s cabinet in Spain, including the dropping of General Franco’s brother- in-law, Ramon Serrano Suner, as Foreign Minister, of General Varela as War Minister, and of Colonel Galarza as Minister of Internal Affairs. Serrano Suner also vacated his position as president of the Falange, or party organization, and both this post and the Foreign Office were taken over by the chief of state. Commentators interpreted the change in these important ministerial positions as indicating a strengthening of army control in opposition to the Falangist radicals. With some caution, it was believed also that the change might be taken as indicative of Spain’s purpose to avoid closer immediate co-operation with the Axis. It was noted that a week earlier President Roosevelt had taken pains to emphasize a policy of post-war aid for Spain in the way of tourist travel and other assistance. The new American Ambassador at Madrid, Dr. Carleton J. Hayes, has also had some success in promoting a resumption of trade between Spain and the United States, in which renewed oil shipments from this country will be exchanged for Spanish cork, zinc, pyrites, and fruit products. In the past year Spanish vessels for a time ceased their calls at United States ports.
German Loot in France.—The Foreign Policy Report of August 1 on “Vichy France under Hitler,” by David H. Popper, gives striking figures showing the systematic exploitation of the conquered country and the deterioration of its economic conditions. Consumption of gasoline in France has gone down from 213,000 gallons a month in 1938 to 8,000 a month in 1942, with the practical stoppage of gasoline operated traffic. The supply of leather is only about one-third of the normal requirements. The supply of fats in 1941 was only 20 per cent of the pre-war consumption level, and it is estimated that French production in general has been reduced by at least 40 per cent. In response to pressure and promises, about 171,000 French workers have gone to Germany, but this number is much smaller than the Germans expected. The net result has been a most serious weakening of physical strength and morale.
All eyewitness accounts agree that malnutrition is slowly sapping the physical health and vitality of the French nation, especially those elements without the funds needed for recourse to the black market. As might be expected, the effects are most noticeable among the very young and the very old. The long absence of war prisoners, moreover, is placing a heavy strain on many families, and will undoubtedly lead to a sharp decrease in the birth rate of a country whose population in recent years has barely maintained itself. It is worthy of note that, in the first quarter of 1941, marriages decreased in number by 40 per cent and live births by 33 per cent, as compared with the same months of 1939.
In spite of this sapping of vitality, sabotage and acts of violence against the Nazis have continued in France on an increasing scale. In early August two German fliers were killed and 18 injured by hand grenades thrown while a group of 60 of the aviators were taking exercise in the Jean-Bouin Stadium in Paris. Wholesale reprisals have failed to prove an effective deterrent to similar attacks. Popular sentiment in France was indicated by the letter in September of President Herriot of the suppressed chamber of Deputies, and his colleague at the head of the Senate, protesting against the policies and the usurpations of authority by Vichy leaders.
Axis Conference Project.—According to a report from Switzerland in late August, Axis leaders were at that time planning for a conference at Berlin, sometime during September, to which delegates from the occupied countries and possibly from some neutral states would be invited to hear about the “new order in Europe.” Prior to the meeting it was intended that Hitler and Mussolini should confer together and agree on any decisions that would be later announced. Presumably, however, the conference project, if actually considered, was taken up at a time when military operations promised earlier and more favorable results. In this connection, the Italian “demands,” voiced by Mussolini’s mouthpiece Virginio Gayda in a recent article in the Giornalc d’ltalia, have some interest. According to the article, Italy would expect “complete liberty of movement in the Mediterranean and free access to both oceans” (including presumably control of Gibraltar and the Suez); possession of Corsica, Dalmatia, and Malta; return of an enlarged Ethiopia, together with Tunis and a slice of French or British territory in West Africa. No doubt Signor Gayda fully realized that these modest proposals were also contingent on the results of military operations.
German Economic Invasion.—An article on “Nazi Economic Imperialism,” in the Foreign Policy Report for August 15, 1942, gave a detailed account of German measures to control the economic production of Continental Europe and turn it to Germany’s present and post-war advantage. According to Nazi plans, heavy industry is to be centered in two areas, both within the limits of Greater Germany—the Ruhr-Rhine basin, including Alsace-Lorraine and Luxemburg, and the region of Upper Silesia. No weapon production would be permitted outside the “master state.” The rest of the continent, save certain states in the west, would be limited largely to agriculture and raw material production, with a relatively small portion of the population engaged in crafts. In certain western states, such as France and the Low Countries, this trend has been checked by the need of war materials, but even in these areas industrial production has been greatly restricted. The concentration of European economic control in Berlin is illustrated in figures covering banking and insurance, and the production of coal, iron, and steel. Price and quota controls are centered in the German capital. The German cartels, under state management, have been useful instruments in this expansion. According to the report,
Control of European industries by German or German-dominated cartels covers not only essential commodities like iron and steel, woodpulp or cement. It already extends to other activities, such as synthetic textiles, fats and soap, radio instruments, the electrical industry, glass, wood- construction, and many more. Germany undoubtedly plans to bring all European industrial activities under the authority of its central organizations. That even a minor industry like the manufacture of zipper fastenings has been centralized in Berlin is a case in point.
Dutch Hostages Executed.—On August 15 five prominent Netherlanders held as hostages were put to death by a Nazi firing squad. The victims were the first of about 1,600 Dutch citizens held prisoner and threatened with a similar fate. The executions were in reprisal for the wrecking of a train in Holland a month earlier. At the same time 220 more hostages were seized. The Netherlands government in exile renewed its appeal for a final warning from President Roosevelt that the Axis leaders would be held strictly accountable for these and other barbaric reprisals visited upon civilians in occupied lands.
FAR EAST
Japanese Foreign Minister Out.— Despite assertions to the contrary some shift of Japanese plans and policies was suggested by the removal on August 31 of Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo, together with the Vice Foreign Minister Nishi, and the foreign office adviser. The Premier, General Tojo, took over control of foreign affairs for the time being, and announced that the change would “not result in any way in the alteration of Japanese policy.” At the same time a new “Ministry for Greater East Asia” was established to administer occupied territory and subject states and “reenforce the war capacity of the empire.” Press correspondence associated the cabinet change with the possibilities of a Japanese attack on Russia. Such an attack was held certain in the near future, and there were reports of extensive troop withdrawals from China during August to support the Japanese forces in Manchukuo. Ex-Foreign Minister Togo was regarded as a career diplomat, subservient to military dictation, but he had been Ambassador to Russia, 1937-39, had had a hand in various compromise agreements with the Soviet Government, and as Foreign Minister had worked to safeguard relations with Russia by diplomatic means. Hence his removal might prove convenient, and in any case would mean another key post under direct military control. Deductions from the change, however, were modified by the fact that it was in no way concealed.
Safe Conduct Denied.—At the close of August the American Red Cross revealed that safe conducts had been refused by Japan to neutral ships carrying supplementary food and medical supplies to United Nations prisoners and internes in Japanese custody. According to the Red Cross, Japan had also failed to report the names and addresses of prisoners. The Japanese action was in violation of the two treaties, known as the Geneva conventions of 1929, relating to Red Cross service and treatment of prisons. While Japan, after signing these treaties, had failed to ratify them, she gave assurances at the outbreak of the war that they would be observed. In connection with the exchanges of citizens and diplomatic officials on the Swedish liner Gripsholm, Japan has permitted certain shipments to prisoners, and it was understood that these might be continued. The Gripsholm arrived in New York on August 24 with nearly 1,500 evacuees.
UNITED STATES AND THE WAR
United Nations Support Pact.—On September 3 the United States exchanged notes with Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and the Free French to form an agreement providing for the reciprocal supply of forces operating in each others territories. The purpose of the agreement was to provide for the most economical employment of war materials and resources, with reduction of transport costs and currency exchanges. This policy had already been in actual practice in connection with our armed forces in Australia and New Zealand, as well as in Britain, but the notes served to regularize the procedure and to bring our relations with the two Pacific commonwealths fully under the terms of the master Lease-Lend agreement of February, 1942, between the United States and Britain. The similar agreement with the Fighting French, while not a diplomatic recognition, for the first time provided for direct American aid for General de Gaulle’s forces, instead of indirect dealing through the British.
On September 7, the American State Department announced a somewhat similar military and naval pact between this country and Cuba, outlining the respective responsibilities of the armed forces of the two nations in areas where they were in contact, and providing for close coordination of efforts.