NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 145, 21 June 1941, Page 8

NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

LIVING IN FEAR

PEOPLES OF EUROPE

TRAVELLER'S REPORT

What is happening in Europe now is so befogged by conflicting and distorted news, or "information," that opinions differ ■widely on the next development, and comment becomes speculation or "shots in the dark." There are two main theories: one, that Germany will attack Russia, and the other, that the often-threatened attempt to invade Britain is imminent. The choice of belief is open to anyone. In the meantime the report of a neutral traveller on the condition of mind in Europe, published in the "Manchester Guardian," is interesting.

The impression that this, traveller— a business man—brings back is that the Continent from one end to ,the other is living in fear. Not only are the little countries frightened, he said, but so is Germany itself—and Russia. Russia and the little countries are frightened of Germany. Germany and Italy are frightened of the future. But throughout Europe, in the air-raid shelters, in the blacked-out streets, in the queues outside the half-empty shops, you, can hear a new note of hope, arising out of the growing belief that Germany cannot win the' war. What the Germans think of Russia can perhaps best be judged from a remark made by a German diplomatist in a neutral country: "The only thing Germany gets out of Russia is a cold winter." -What Russia, thinks of Germany is simple. She is afraid. Germans and Russia. The Germans in Moscow are openly contemptuous of Russia. They willingly talk to strangers of German plans, and in the heart of the Red capital blandly announce their" intention of taking the Ukraine and the Urals when the time is ripe. There is no love lost between German and Russian in Moscow. For example, the German military attache in Moscow tells this story: "In the Kremlin they have a scoreboard on which they keep a record of planes brought down in the battles between the R.A.F. and the Luftwaffe. And if nine British and nine German planes are brought down the Russians mark it up as 'Eighteen tp us.'" Foreign military attaches are impressed by some aspects of the Red Army. In the November parades through the Red Square the picked troops and equipment of the Red Army are as impressive as can be seen anywhere in the world. But most neutral, experts say that the rest of the Red Army is not up to the sample displayed in the Red Square and that Russian industry and transport are still inadequate for a major campaign against such an army as the German. Matter of Months. That is certainly the German view (the traveller goes on)'. The hundreds of Germans in Moscow —many of them military men acting as journalists—say openly that with 2,000,000 men Germany could shatter the Red Army in a matter of months. They say they have no objection at the moment to sharing the spoils with the Russians, because they are certain that they can and will take them all back again later, and with interest. All Russia is now devoted to strengthening the Army, Air Force, and Navy. That is shown by the lengthening food queues at the shops. Transport is used for the heavy defence industries, and that is why it. is impossible to buy a lemon or an orange in Moscow, although thousands of them are rotting in"> Southern Russia. With tlie food shortage prices are rising in Russia, bringing down real wages, while working hours are rapidly increasing, and in many industries men are working 60 hours a week. ■ Germans Losing Faith. . Six months ago almost every German one met in Berlin was confident of victory. Today almost every German over 35 years of age at least has his doubts. The young men are still fanatically pro-war and fanatically pro-Hitler. But when R.A.F. planes were over Berlin this conversation took place between a group of men sheltering in the basement of a Berlin hotel: "I thought Goering told us no foreign bombs would ever fall on German soil and no British plane would ever penetrate the 'living wall of flame' over the Western Front?" ''Yes," said another, "but just think of what the British are going through every night, not just sometimes." "Ah," said the first man, "but the British have got something to fight for!" j The mass of the people appear utterly tired, weary, and indifferent, says the traveller. After the British raids the workers, their stamina_ in many cases sapped by years of rationing, ersatz food, and overwork, are completely listless, and production falls off sharply. British readers will have seen reports from neutral correspondents, who are occasionally taken to certain towns and ports, shown a bit of them, and then left to cable that they saw no evidence of serious damage inflicted by the R.A.F. Conducted Tours. The correspondents are taken to a town and shown a factory. "For example, they were taken to the great Krupp works after one British raid. These works extend five miles inlength. The correspondents were allowed to travel exactly one-quarter of a mile and were then whisked off somewhere else. In Hamburg the damage has been enormous* and the dock area cordoned off. Thirty or more streets are barred. No foreigner is allowed to visit Mannheim or to see the wreckage at WHhelmshaven. No German in conversation ever accuses the R.A.F. of indiscriminate bombing —that is left to the D.N.8.. the official German news agency. The German people have seen British bombers caught in the searchlights and still travel straight on to their objectives and release their bombs, often held by the light throughout and making no effort to dodge. "You would think the fellow was on a pleasure flight," said one man describing such a flight.

With very few exceptions every American and neutral journalist in Berlin believes that ultimately Germany will be defeated. This belief, which they share with a rapidly growing number of older Germans, is due to the opinion that the United States will come into the war, to the collapse of Italy, and the efficiency of the R.A.F. '..•■.