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Evening Star, Issue 25225, 12 July 1944, Page 5

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"ENEMY IS DONE FOR" BRIGADIER HARGEST ON EUROPEAN WAR LONDON, July 11. " I feel that the end of the European war is here—not to-day, or next week, or next month perhaps, but the enemy is done for," said Brigadier James Hargest, New Zealand Army observer attached to the invasion forces, in an interview with a war correspondent iii Normandy. " I was attaohed to the Fiftieth British Division," Brigadier Hargest said,, " a hard-fighting North Conutr.y division, beside which any New Zealand or Australian division would have been proud to fight. The country in Normandy is close and difficult, with the odds always favouring the defenders. The lanes are narrow, with high hedges and deep ditches. Each village can be used as a fortress. The high trees and lush crops give extraordinary cover. " In places it is like lighting in the jungle, but the enemy is being driven out bit by bit by a combination of cunning and courage on the part of the tank crews and infantry in co-operation, helped along always by appalling concentrations of scores of guns which are always at call on the request of the forward troops. This complete domination by our artillery must be most galling to the Germans, who used to bo so proud of the excellence of their gunnery. _ . ~ " The German tanks," Brigadier Hargest said, " are still good, and are still fighting well, but again their superiority has been reduced to an inferior plane. Ours are so well supported that the enemy, except on special occasions, is reduced to sneak tactics. He keep 3 his tanks well hidden under deep cover, from which they emerge to do a little shooting and then hastily withdraw. The penetrating power of the tank guns—ours and theirs—is stupendous. I saw a Nazi Tiger tank which had been attacked from the rear. Ten rounds of 75-millimetre had hit it, wrecked the engine, and set it ablaze. One cannot wonder that they hesitate to come out into the open. , INVASION PARALLELS GALLIPOLI.

" Old soldiers in New Zealand and Australia would be most interested.. Brigadier Hargest said, " in a comparison between the Allied landing m JNormandy and the first landing in modern war—at Gallipoli. Then we were untried troops 'facing an enemy of great experience who was able to use his weapons well. This time our assault troops were mainly veterans. So were our opponents. Then, the weapons used were simple and easy of transport through the shallow water and across the beaches. This time the weapons were many and varied, and could not be taken ashore except under their own power. The enemy had pieroared the Normandy beaches for defence by the use of every device, great and small. If any army could have prevented another from coming ashore to attack it should have been the German army in Normandy. , "Tn some respects," Brigadier Hardest said, " there was a great similarity with Gallipoli, notably with the Navy's share in escorting the troops, in the terrific bombardment, and the calm, unhurried efficiency of every sailor from the most senior officer to the most junior ship's boy. Another similarity was the dash and drive of the assaulting troops. They went ashore against many adverse conditions —after a stormy night in small ships through rough seas that sweot many of the landing craft broadside on to mines and obstacles. If they passed through these trials without casualty, ' Brigadier Hargest added, " they had to spring into several feet of water and wade or struggle ashore to get to grips with the waiting enemy." SWEDEN ALSO SEES EARLY FINISH LONDON, July 11. "Most of-the Swedes jbelievo that the war in Europe will end within six months, aud many are convinced that the end will come much sooner," says the ' Daily Express ' Stockholm correspondent, who interviewed a number of prominent business men and observers. With two exceptions, all the people he questioned thought the war would continue no longer than from two to six months. One well-known business man based his opinion, on views expressed to him by members of the German Legation. He said: "The Germans in Sweden think that the crisis of the war is very near. Some give it a few more months, but one official told me that ' the longest it can last is until January, 1945.' " • Sweden's leading military commentator, Willi Kleen, writes: "The war should be over within two or three months. The Germans are everywhere on the defensive."