"BIG NEWS EXPECTED AT ANY MOMENT"

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 101, 1 May 1945, Page 5

"BIG NEWS EXPECTED AT ANY MOMENT"

FEELING IN BRITAIN Press Reflects Tension Of Public Feeling N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent Rec. 12.30 p.m. LONDON, April 30. "Cabinet Standing By" "Big News Expected At Any Moment." These are the headlines in the evening papers and reflect the tension with which Germany's final surrender is expected. The Evening Standard Stockholm correspondent says that Count Bernadotte is expected to return from Germany to-day after making a new contact with Himmler. "The Nazi leader is believed to have told Count Bernadotte that Germany is now 'like one great madhouse,'" says the correspondent. "It is fully believed here that Himmler is now Erepared to include Soviet Russia in is surrender proposals," the correspondent continues. "Himmler offers his services to bring order out of chaos, more or less in the hope that the Allies will guarantee him his own life. Himmler, it is said, told Count Bernadotte that Goering is gibbering and Hitler is raving and dying. Himmler's case was that he was the only sane man left in the Reich who knew anything about Germany's affairs." The Evening' News political correspondent states that the reply is expected from Himmler most likely the first of May. Mr. Churchill has returned from the country and it is understood the War Cabinet will consider the reply from Himmler immediately it arrives. It will simultaneously be considered in Washington and Moscow. As the Allies declared, the only surrender acceptable is that of the German High Command. It is possible that Himmler's reply may be unsatisfactory unless it incorporates the agreement of the leading German generals, says the correspondent. This is to guard against the army in the future saying that the Gestapo chief surrendered against the wishes of Hitler and : his generals. „. a "If Himmler's offer is good enough it will probably be accepted. Then would come the formal surrender by the army chiefs to both General Eisenhower and the heads of the Russian Army. Aft , er , thl f the 'cease fire' would be sounded and a simultaneous announcement made from the three victorious Allied capitals. Complete surrender will of course mean the end of all resistance in all pockets—Bavarian Alps, Norway and Denmark.