THE FRENCH JIG-SAW

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 283, 26 August 1944, Page 6

THE FRENCH JIG-SAW

German Difficulties Increase PROBABLE COURSE OF CAMPAIGN

(By

E.A.A.)

As the military situatibn developes on the western front the set-piece of the German new order tends to break. more and more into the components of a complicated jig-saw puzzle. Instead of a defined front as in Normandy we now observe Allied armies scattered over the face of France milling round in a manner which appears bewildering. What then is the new pattern which will resolve itself from this most satisfactory confusion? . Before the situation can be viewed in a large impartial manner it must be realized that we are now watching pursuit battles over an enormous area. We have become''so used to every other form of battle, both in Great War I and 11, it is difficult to think in terms of provinces instead of fields. Pursuit battles are more likin’ to mustering sheep than to any other operation. Tanks and mechanized units make excellent headers. Infantry with modern seven-leagued boots take care of the enemy’s tail. Every battle should in theory give place to the pursuit. More often than not it does not. The art of battles of pursuit is to head off the enemy, break his armies into small units, disorganize his supplies, and deal with him piecemeal. The swift-moving armies of today, assisted by the air arm, make this type of battle more spectacular than any known to history. Where then will it end? In France the situation at the moment is that battles of pursuit are taking place all over the north-west, parts of central France and up the Rhone Valley. No sooner does an enemy unit get itself out of one tight place than another develops ahead. Nevertheless, so far the coastal area from Le Havre to Belgium has not been involved. The 15 or so German divisions in that area eventually must be dealt with. Their position, however, 1 is by no means comfortable. Their main role is to repel Allied seaborne landings. They now have two other choices —to come to the assistance of their beaten armies further west or to retire behind the Rhine. The first choice is beset with all manner of dangers. It would mean a move across the flank ot Allied armour operating east of Paris. The German units would thus expose a flank which,' if pierced, would land them also in the sack. Moreover, such a move would place intact German divisions further from Germany at a time when inevitably they must withdraw into their own country. Problems . of. time and space, supply and communications, make such an action extremely injudicious. Moreover, it would be during just such a move that the Allies would make further powerful landings along the northern coasts. Burdensome Wall. The truth is that Hitler’s much valued “Atlantic Wall’’ is at the moment a burden rather than an aid to Germany. It ties up troops which are badly needed elsewhere and leaves them to inevitable destruction. Against this one must place the fact that these troops are defending flying-bomb bases. Nevertheless, military prudence insists that the time has come for Germany to cut her losses and withdraw behind the Rhine while the opportunity offers. As soon as Allien armies in north and south France have linked up, the entire stretch of French coast bordering the English Channel is doomed. Powerful Allied armies can then advance on this area, assisted it necessary by Allied landings. It would appear, therefore, that whatever Hitler does-he cannot continue to hold on to any part of France except perhaps temporarily to parts of the eastern frontleAfter the Allies have mustered, the German armies in France, and sent the remnants scuttling for Belgium and the eastern highlands of the French frontier, there will still be the Rhine and the mountains associated with its upper reaches. This will be a moment when the Germans may well consider they have had about enough of their Fuehrer. If, however, Hitler still survives; it is probable that the forcing of the Rhine, the turning of the German flanks in Belgium and Holland and the march on Berlin must await another campaigning season. The jig-saw which the Germans had laboriously built up piece by piece is already broken into pieces. Rumania and Bulgaria, moreover, have ominously uncovered the Balkans. The Russians are again getting up steam in th e east. It mav be that the German people, specially the industrialists and the General Staff, will find a way to deal with Hitler and the Nazis. In that case the present chapter may well be the last.