GERMANY’S DECLINE

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 165, 10 April 1944, Page 5

GERMANY’S DECLINE

Narrow Industrial Margin For War Effort LESS ARTILLERY USED lß y Telegraph.-Press Assn.-Copy right.) (Received April 9, 7 P- m > NEW YORK, April 8. “The mobilized economic strength or the United Nations is now overwhelm inglygreater than that of the Axis, said the Foreign Economic Administrator, 3 r. len Crowlev "The Germans may fight on for years, but it will be a defensive and losing fight which ° the man exhaustion unparalleled since tnTh .^ e Y Nazi?effort to stem the tide of Allied victories reached its peak in the summer of 1943. Since then extreme difficulty in meeting requirements has become increasingly apparent. War Department officials said that the German war machine and its equipmen have started on the down grade. Generally speaking, the German tanks and planes are still rugged, with vital parts in good condition, but the less essentia parts are cheap and some ersatz material has been found in captured vehicles. The Germans are also using less artillery and fewer grenades than _ hitherto. Captured Germans blame inferior equipment for their capture. The fact that the Germans are using wooden bullets may reflect a shortage of steel and lead. [A recent report from Cassino mentioned the Germans’ use of wooden bullets in night infiltration fighting. It was suggested that because of their snort range such bullets might be less dangerous to the Germans themselves in that type of fighting.] The German Minister of Finance, von Rosick, over Berlin radio today warned the Reich that new taxation was likely in order to ward off inflation. Turkish deliveries of chrome ore to Germany are at present nearly three times greater than the monthly average in 1943, says Reuter’s Istanbul correspondent. Germany is wholly dependent on Turkey for supplies of ehrome, which is a vital ingredient of high-grade steel. "The Times” of London says that the Turkish authorities claim that Germany has remedied the transport difficulty by lending Turkey a number of locomotives. Turkish deliveries to Britain of chrome, paid for under the Anglo-Turkish chrome agreement, have row virtually censed. “The Times” adds: "It is unfortunate, when chrome is so vital for the German ■war industries, that circumstances enable German}' to obtain larger quantities at the expense of the Allies. Turkey and Germany signed an agreement in 1941 under which Turkey was to deliver 45.000 tons in 1943 and 135,000 tons in 1944. Turkey, however, had exported only 35,000 tons- before December, 1943, leaving a balance of 150,000 tons to be exported in 1944.”