REPLACES RUNDSTEDT

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 70, 23 March 1945, Page 5

REPLACES RUNDSTEDT

"Hitler Changes Horses In Middle Of The Rhine"

N.Z.P.A.—Copyright.—Rec. noon LONDON, March 22. Field-Marshal Kesselring, German Commander-in-Chief in Italy* h as replaced Field-Marshal von Rundstedt as commander of the German armies on the Western Front. This is officially announced by the Allied Twenty-first Army Group.. Von Rundstedt has probably been relegated to a command in the interior of Germany.

The greatest possible importance is attached to the disclosure that Kesselring has replaced Rundstedt, says Reuters correspondent at Twenty-first Army Group headquarters. Remarking that "Hitler has changed horses in the middle of the Rhine," he says Rundstedt's dismissal has been rumoured for months and is now finally confirmed by prisoners, who declare that the change was made several weeks ago. The change is likely to have the worst possible effect on the German Command in the west, but Rundstedt is an ageing jpan and the situation was apparently going to pieces in his hands.

There are probably two explanations for the change, the correspondent adds. The first is that Rundstedt's loyalty to Hitler was suspect after the attempted assassination last July, while after the failure of the Ardennes offensive, which Rundstedt described as Germany's last throw, he was suspected of defeatism.

The second explanation is that Kesselring by his conduct of the Italian campaign has gained the reputation of being the Wehrmacht's best defensive general.