AN ATTEMPT TO INTIMIDATE

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 9, 6 October 1941, Page 6

AN ATTEMPT TO INTIMIDATE

According to observers on the Eastern Front the German High Command is preparing a new series of offensive drives m the hope of making important gains in Russia before winter sets in. - provides a clue to one of the reasons for Hitler s speech from Berlin on Friday, and may explain, too, why he sought to impress on his hearers that Russia had “already been broken." . In past weeks the German people have been brought face to face with the cost of Nazi militarism—to them. Casualties in the East have been enormous. It has been impossible to deceive the public aS to their magnitude, indeed, Hitler was at pains to explain the cause of such losses by referring to the unexpected strength of the, Red Army. Fresh offensives on the eve of winter will be additionally costly, so the German people must be made ready. They must be told that the back of the Russian defence is broken and all that remains is lo administer a powerful coup de grace. . . .„ But Hitler spoke also to “the peoples of, the occupied territories who in recent weeks have become antagonistic and troublesome m their oppressors. He spoke not persuasively, for that is not nis way, but to dishearten and intimidate. A whole continent, he said, had been put into the service of the Reich, and ‘ should the war last a long time it would be of great value to Germany and her allies. That was his message to the restively-stirring millions in Czechoslovakia, Norway and Poland, in the Low Countries, in France aim in the Balkans. It is no use kicking against the pricks. Germany is all-powerful. “We know how to organize these conquered areas. But doubtless Hitler desired to reach a third audience-one which he might also attempt to sway to his advantage by talk ot a tottering Russia, a Europe in which reorganization on Nazi lines was an accomplished fact, a Germany so stocked with ammunition that some of its arsenals had been ordered to cease production, and - a Britain which would fall like the rest as soon as the German forces gave her their undivided attention. This sort of thing was fot t e Spaniards and the Turks, and perhaps also the Italians. Spain of late has not been showing marked pro-Axis enthusiasm. Turkey u obdurate at a time when Hitler’s plans for the Near East may necessitate “co-operation” from Ankara, while disillusionment and something akin to despondency appear to be abroad, in Italy. Hie speech was intended to bring these people to the Nazi way of thinking, or to fortify them in that thinking, as the case may be. One speech is not a key to a complicated situation, and too much should not be read into Hitler’s weekend broadcast. On the other hand an examination of its purposes; and the circumstances in which it was made, indicates what lies beneath the boastful veneer. In many respects it was Hitler’s weakest, most expedient speech since the war began, revealing distinct traces of anxiety and unceitainty, especially as to the duration of the struggle. It was a speech which should encourage those ranged against Nazism even as it warns them to be watchful and unrelaxing.