The Evening Star TUESDAY, MARCH 11, 1941. NAZI PLANS.

Evening Star, Issue 23831, 11 March 1941, Page 6

The Evening Star TUESDAY, MARCH 11, 1941. NAZI PLANS.

Dr Goebbels is reported to have said that Germany will finish the war before the end of the year, and that an attack against Britain will ho inexorably carried out when the weather is sufficiently favourable. Despite the authoritative position of this inveterate Nazi exponent of the art of wishful thinking, British people “the world over, along with their friends in all democratic countries, will prefer to believe that, while an end to the war this year is a possibility, Germany’s propaganda 'chief has failed to pick the winner. Hitler and his assistant schemers, not ‘to mention his sheep-like, yet vicious, fighting hordes, are still capable of causing the British Empire much anxiety. Nobody conscious of what a desperate spring offensive may entail will bo under any illusions about the vital significance of the months immediately ahead. But it is widely believed that the British Isles will bo adequately protected by their, moat. Without u doubt the main scene of action is shifting rapidly eastward. Hitler is compelled to attempt the weakening of Britain by smashing his way to success via overland routes. There is no bluff about his Balkan policy, unless it he to the limited extent that he is making a minor pass at Greece and preparing to deliver his mass offensive at Turkey, with the object of driving through to the oilfields of Iran and Iraq. A message published last night suggesting this finds some hacking to-day in the ‘ Daily Telegraph’s ’ report of Axis intrigue among the Moslems of the Middle East. It cannot be doubted that both Germany and her subordinate, Italy, would he running true to form if they did seek to undermine British influence in the oil regions. Once again we hear of Hitler’s “ promises.” The nations of Europe know to their cost how much the word of Hitler can be trusted; but it is just possible that a fresh and fertile field for his insidious scheming is being found among native populations which are fed on 'blandishments and have not yet felt the crushing effect of the iron hod of Nazism.

During the. last war the 'making of the Pan-German map included plans for seizing the very countries now mentioned as Hitler’s objectives. Turkey, Syria, Palestine, Persia, and Mesopotamia were all embraced in the Kaiser’s dreams of conquest, and some commentators at the time considered that the purpose of an offensive on the western front was to open the way to territorial acquisition in the Middle ’East. Hold up in the west in 1914-15, the Germans turned to their second plan of campaign, the defeat of Rus'sia, in order to get one big step nearer to securing the Pan-German map. When Turkey and Bulgaria threw off the mask ■and Serbia was broken, this second phase of their campaign looked as though it had been won. and a wholly new German strategy revealed itself. In Turkey the Kaiser toyed with the faith of Islam, and over Warsaw his Hying men dropped leaflets promising freedom for the Poles and asking the Russians why they fought for an 'autocracy. With certain obvious •reservations and variations, Hitler is now following more closely than ever in the footsteps of the Emperor Wilhelm. His “ New Order ” is little else than a resuscitation of the old Prussian claim's for the predominance of their “ kultur.” Ho has the same old contempt for democracy—the ideal of “ vulgar, uncultured ‘breeds liko the .English and their American spawn.” In his eyes the sole significance of tho State is power; and power rests upon war .and the rise of the German race of “ supermen ” as rulers of the world. Clearly the Nazi thrust into tho Balkans, with visions •of conquests beyond, arc all born of tbo psychology which for many years has made Prussianism a menace not only to our own British race, but to every country trying to develop the ideals of democratic freedom.