"INVINCIBILITY" OF GERMAN ARMY

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 266, 5 August 1940, Page 9

"INVINCIBILITY" OF GERMAN ARMY

Complete Defeat In 1918 BRITISH BROCHURE NAILS NAZI LIE "Over and over again Hitler, Goebbels and the crest shout at the top of their voices that the German Army is invincible,” says a brochure issued by the ' British Ministry of Information, which is circulating in Auckland, “They even say that it has never been beaten. They have said this so often that they have made the Germans believe it. "The story is, of course, simply a lie. It is a specimen of German ‘history’ and one more sign of how easily Germans are hoodwinked. Many Germans alive today experienced the defeat of their army in 1918. Their own official reports tell the story quite plainly. Everyone knows that Germany was beaten in battle in August and September.” . . On August 8> 1918, 'the 4th British Army attacked ithe Germans, drove them out of their trenches and forced them to yield 10 miles of ground, continues the statement. They lost 21,850 prisoners and 400 guns. General Ludendorff told the German Government that the 40th German Division had given away completely before the British attack. He called this day “the black day in German history.” That was only the beginning. The Ist, 3rd, and 4th British Armies pressed on from the Somme to the north of Arras. In battles round Peronne and Bapaume, they took 53,1 W prisoners and 470 guns. Iu September the attack was continued. Tho 2nd British Army eo-operated' to thejiorth. opposite Ypres. This time 53,050 prisoners and 580 guns were taken. Rot set. in the Gorman Army. it was so serious that on October I the German High Command urgently requested the German Government to ask for peace at once. On the same day a representative of German G.H.Q. told the Reichstag: “The losses in the battle now in pro gress are unexpectedly great, specially as regard's officers. This is decisive. Pressure for immediate peace came from the High Command, which knew it Had no choice. On Optober 17, General Ludendorff told the German Government that the case was urgent. Tho morale of the troops was gone.

The retreat went on. Early in Octo ber the British attack was pressed further. Carabrai and Courtrai were captured, with 39,000 prisoners and 900 guns. Over a wide sector the Germans were in full retreat. Lille. Robaix, Douai and other towns were evacuated. By November the retreat had become a rout. Between Angus: and November 355,500 prisoners and 6015 gnus had been taken. The defeat was complete. Indeed it has been called unparalleled in military history. The High Command had to sue for peace. It had been pressing the German Government to do this from the end of September. When the Armistice was secured, on November 11, it was signed unconditionally. It had to be. "The story that the German Army was not beaten iu 1918 is a lie,” the statement concludes. “So is the story that the German Army cannot be beaten today.”