GERMAN WAR PLANS

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24600, 23 June 1945, Page 7

GERMAN WAR PLANS

ATTITUDE OF HIGH COMMAND

REVELATIONS BY GENERAL JODL

LONDON, June 21. Sidelights on German war history were given to an intelligence officer at Supreme Headquarters by ColonelGeneral Alfred Jodi, who began the war as Hitler’s military adviser and finished as Chief of Staff of the Wehrmacht. Jodi said that after the collapse of France the German High Command hoped to frighten Britain out of the war. When this did not happen the High Command issued orders for the invasion of Britain. The intelligence officer disclosed that interrogation of Jodi, Keitel, and Kesselring had brought out these hitherto unanswered points: (1) They revealed that orders for the invasion of Britain which were issued on June 2, 1940, were cancelled on October 6, 1940, because of the weather and lack of proper training and equipment which would have made the undertaking most hazardous. (2) The German High Command, including Jodi, Kesselring, and Keitel, never wanted Italy to enter the war and they always considered her rather a liability than an asset. (3) Hitler’s decision to invade Russia, previously believed to be his sole responsibility, was supported by the German High Command. Nobody in Germany considered an attack against Russia either desirable or probable until late in 1940 and early in 1941, when the German intelligence reported to Hitler that there had been a progressive buildup of Russian forces opposite Germany. Hitler and the High Command agreed that if they did not attack soon they would be faced with the entry of Russia into the "weaker states” of Europe. (4) The North African invasion furnished the first complete surprise for the German High Command, which had absolutely no idea that such an attack was even contemplated until the Allied convoys were spotted passing through the Straits of Gibraltar. (5) The German High Command guessed the place, strength, and approximate date of the Allied invasion of France, but it still could not hurl back the Allies into the sea. The Germans held strong forces in the Pas de Calais area, where they were certain the Allies would make a second and even stronger assault. Finally the German plans to drag out the war as long as possible in the hope that a political miracle would save them were completely upset by the seizure of the Remagen bridgehead which the German officers described as “one of the most outstanding achievements of the war.”

JUGOSLAV LIST OF WAR CRIMINALS

LONDON, June 21. Guiseppe Bastianini, a former Italian Ambassador to London, receives the strongest condemnation in a report on war criminals issued by Jugoslavia. It is said that when governor of Dalmatia he ordered wholesale shootings and starvation of civilian!* 3 There? are already IP,OQQ names on the list and additions are being made at the rate of 200 tp COO a month. Senior German and Italian officers are accused along with the Chetnik leader (General Mikhailovitch). who is accused of terrorism against Marshal Brozs partisans.

in prison camps at the surrender. It is estimated that 1,400,000 Germans were killed or seriously wounded on the Western Front.