BLITZ FAILURE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 188, 11 August 1941, Page 7

BLITZ FAILURE

GERMAN DISCONTENT

Disillusionment Spreads As War

Enters Eighth Week

U.P.A. ana British Wireless

Rec. 1 p.m. LONDON, Aug. 10. 1 lie Germans claim to have progi essed towards both extremes of the great Russo-German front, where violent efforts to gain results, made necessary by the failure of the blitzkrieg in the centre and the growing disillusionment and discontent of the German masses, continues to be the main theme of reports from the German frontier.

"The Times" Stockholm correspondent says Finnish and German progress in the region of Lake Ladoga, if true, is important, although it will not be surprising if the German claims of successes in Estonia are again proved premature. Turi is apparently still in Russian hands.~ although the Germans may soon 1 * overrun the whole of the Estonian! interior.

The threat to Odessa Is very serious. The German claim to have destroyed 25 Russian divisions in the southern Ukraine must be exaggerated.

The Berlin correspondent of the Stockholm newspaper "Dagens Nyheters" reports a remarkable absence of enthusiasm in Berlin. Even the so-called victorv communiques did not stir the cajDital. The people are not interested in the published war news because all is regimented and bears the "propaganda stamp."

The German newspaper "Das Reich" says the German people nowadays are different from those of the last war, when they often showed spontaneous entnusiasm. Now thev keep their feelings suppressed. If a man from an enthusiastic per-iod of the last war suddenly appeared in Berlin to-day he would find scarcelv a single sign that the High Command had just reported a very great victory. "Have we no hearts? Are we fatalistic peoples?" the newspaper asks. _ "The general apathetic attitude is not related to indifference. It is a new form of courage which our generation has created."

M. Lozovsky, of the Soviet Information Bureau, explaining the German failure to raid Moscow, said: "We consistently bomb aerodromes and refuelling bases in the German rear. The Nazis have failed to destroy our air force, despite their claims. Our fighters are better than theirs and our pilots have a stronger morale. You can imagine the terrific impression created in Germanv by the Soviet raid on Berlin. Of course, we are unable to guarantee that you will not be bombed here again."

The Moscow radio states that Russian aircraft made another flight over Germany last night, dropping high explosive and incendiary bombs in Berlin on military targets and railways. The aircraft did not meet with strong German anti-aircraft defences. One Russian aircraft is missing.