WORD "DEFEAT" USED

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 21, 26 January 1943, Page 5

WORD "DEFEAT" USED

Efforts to Reassure German People

LONDON, January 25. As the Germans in southern Russia fall back in the greatest series of reverses since the war began, Berlin propagandists have been making desperate efforts to reassure the people at home. General the German military spokesman, in a broadcast tonight, said it was his duty to inform the German people of the extent of the German defeat in Russia. He made a comparison with a former war period, and said that at that time the German defeat was far more serious, but they recovered. The present situation at Stalingrad and in the Don bend, he said, was serious for a time, and was still causing concern.

since the outbreak of war have the Germans been informed with equally brutal frankness that the fate of the nation is at stake, despite the resistance of the German troops on the Russian front. Deep gloom is shown in editorials, which talk freely about a serious setback. The Stockholm correspondent of the "Evening News" says that Dr. Goebbels is preparing the German home front for the loss of Stalingrad, which means either the capitulation or the complete annihilation of the German Sixth Army. The partial admission of the plight of the trapped forces in the last few days has come as a blow which surpasses anything the German public have so far suffered. The "Borsen Zeitung" states: "Germany has suffered her first setback, and her position is as critical as England's was during the Battle of Britain. The British took their setbacks with courage and fortitude; we must show the same power of resistance." Other newspapers harp on the note that everything is r at stake, including the existence of every German. Brussels radio described the situation at Stalingrad as "so serious that one must become resigned to the* fact that the defenders cannot be helped any more." ■