SECOND YEAR OF WAR

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LXII, Issue 74, 16 September 1941, Page 5

SECOND YEAR OF WAR

THE GERMAN OUTLOOK '

FROM OPTIMISM TO GRIM

ENDURANCE

LONDON, September 4

"To the German people the second anniversary is just another day —just like Frederick the Great, who also in cloudy days is a noble example to us with his genius, persistance and tenacity. We must damn-well fulfil our duties and obligations in a life and death struggle." (German home broadcast, September 2, 1941.) Germany is celebrating the second anniversary of her war. She is celebrating it in a mood and manner that she did not anticipate when she attacked Poland in 1939. In those days she hoped .that the democracies would accept the defeat of Poland and believed that if they did not the weight and speed of the Nazi war machine would have little trouble in bringing about a decisive German victory. Time has proved her wrong. Month by month, slowly and steadily, the mood in Germany has changed. At the be- j ginning of the war the Nazi propagandists were constantly stressing ( the normality of life in their country, the general confidence of the public in their leaders, the prevailing optimism of all classes as to | the length of the war and the abilities of their opponents. Today optimism has changed to I grim endurance—the end of the war is no longer specifically promised for a date a few months ahead, and the German people are exhorted and commanded to have faith in their leaders and realise, the. exigencies of the hour. "The necessity of our fight for survival must be clear to all of us," said Dr. Rosenburg in a broadcast speech on August 25. "The fight against Russia is the fight for Germany's existence or non-existence. That is why we must fight until final victory," declared General Solden, Military correspondent of the "Voelkischer Beobachter," making no mention of when that glad day may be. "The Fuehrer will always be victorious in good time. Has he not always been justified," proclaimed Party leader Wagner at a meeting in Koenigsberg on August 23. "Germany is waging a difficult war for the rig^t to live; therefore, the holiday-maker must behave himself in such a way as not .to have to be ashamed to think of the soldiers at the front," stated a leaflet given to Germans on vacation near Lake Constance. "The material sacrifice for which

the third war winter relief campaign calls is nothing compared to' the sacrifice of life which our soldiers are making," said Oberbefehlsleiter Hilgerfeld addressing 13,000 Germans in an appeal for German winter-help campaign. These are strange words from a country that has piled victory upon victory — significant undertones to official acclamations. "What we have achieved in two years gives us absolute certainty that victory will be ours" (Lokal Anzeiger, September 3). The people of Germany are troubled and apathetic. Official reassurances that "our armed forces are invincible" (Voelkischer Beobachter, September 3) and official explanations that ".the destruction of Great Britain, which was not originally our aim, has become necessary since the blind enemy has declined the opportunity offered him many times to co-ordinate the old with the new" (Deutsche Allegemaine Zeitung, August 31) fall on dull e.ars. The Germans have had too many victories and none of them decisive—they have had too many spectacular successes, in the air, on the land, and on the sea—achieved nothing. Their thirst for victory! has been quenched. "The average German," says Charles Lanius, the American broadcaster speaking from Berlin, "looks upon the beginning of the third year of war as just another day." Thus now is the time to cram every ounce into the effort for a big smash hit we are preparing for Germany, so that we | may deliver it quicker.