If war hits the near East, these

oil fields, pipe lines and ports. may
figure in far bigger news than

-that made on the western front,

or even in Finland,

"There are two guesses why the |

Allies have massed nearly a mil-
lion men here:

_ First—that Great Britain and

France are convinced Europe’s
two wars will merge, making Rus-
sia a military ally of Germany.
So they are preparing to strike a
paralyzing blow against the Soviet
from the South. “

Second, and perhaps nearer the —
“truth—they know that the near

East and the Balkans were im-
portant World war battlefields;
they don’t know what's likely to
happen this time, but they mean
to be prepared. pe

“Tf the near East does become a

 

battlefield, the arrows indicate

the general directions the offen-
sives may take. Note that two

-big prizes would be at stake: con-

trol of the Dardanelles, which is

the gateway to Turkey, Russia
and Rumania, and the back door

to Germany; and the. oil wells of
the near East.

Capture of the Baku fields would
deprive Russia of her biggest. oil
source and cut off Germany’s hope

of getting Russian oil to keep her —

military machine going. Similarly,
a successful Russian drive against
the fields in Iran and Iraq would
seriously injure the Allies, though
they .could still get oil from the
Americas, :

To understand the dgaciencel
of the near eastern and Rumanian
oil fields, consider this:

In 1938,
cent of her oil imports from the

Germany got 24 per

 

United States, and 44 per cent
from Venezuela, The allied block-
ade cuts her off from these sources,
so she must depend heavily on
Rumania and Russia, which to-
gether gave her only 12 per cent.

In the same year, England got
30 per cent of her imports from
the fields shown here, most of it
from Iran and Iraq, and France
44 per cent. —

So war in the Near East and
the Balkans would make these
small countries natural objectives
for armies determined to keep the
other fellow from oil.

ee

‘Rumania came in on the side
of ‘sted aDlied and was quickly con-
quered, This time she has an al-
lied guarantee of aid against ag~
gression, but is under strong pres-
sure from Germany for more oil,

Remember ot happened last

 

Most of her oil industry is owned
by British, French and Americans.

2. Russia drove down through
Iran (Persia), halfway to the Per-

sian gulf. She was fighting on the

side of the Allies then,

3. The Allies failed to take the ,

Dardanelles, defeating Turkey
only by backdoor drives through
the Holy Land. Nowadays Tur-
key has a mutual aid treaty with
Britain and France, would fight

‘alongside them if she thought the

Dardanelles menaced by Germany
or Russia, Allied loans of 274 mil-
lion dollars and France’s gift of

-Alexandretta undoubtedly have

had something to do: with the
change,

India’s domination has long
been reported near Afghanistan,
which offers two gateways to the
rich empire, But Russia has more

 

 

immediate concerns nearer home |

—and besides, the British are sup-
posed to have those two gateways
tightly plugged.

Most of the troops in the near
East probably are concentrated
near the cities classed as military
headquarters. The arrival of
30,000 Australians and New Zea-

landers at Suez puts the likely |

‘ allied total at more than three-
That’s.in |

quarters of. a million,
addition to the Turks, who have
an army of 200,000 and can put a

Egyptians. The size of Russia’s
southern forces is a mystery, but

it must run into the hundreds of:

thousands, And there are 2 mil-
lion armed men in the Balkans, ~

Such figures are reason enough |
the military experts are keeping

an #ye to the east.

-million more in the field, and the |