EISENHOWER SATISFIED

Evening Star, Issue 25419, 26 February 1945, Page 5

EISENHOWER SATISFIED

OPERATIONS GOING WELL AIMED AT DESTROYING GERMAN ARMY RUGBY, February 24. General Eisenhower has stated that the Allies expect to destroy the Germany army west of the Rhine in the northern part of the front, in the area where they are now attacking. The operations, he said, were progressing as satisfactorily as could possibly be expected, and, given a continuation of the present conditions and reasonably favourable weather, should! mark the 'beginning of the destruction of the enemy on the western front. The Supreme Commander disclosed that the American Ninth Army, under General Simpson, is in Field-Marshal Montgomery’s army group. He does not appear to mention the United States ’First Amy, which is also engaged. This army, therefore, is presumably under General Bradley’s command. He declared that if the Germans continued to show their recent spirit there was only one way they could be beaten. The Allied armies in the west must meet the Russian armies in the centre of Germany. British and American liaison with Russia, he added, had always been as close and intimate as was necessary to meet the situation of the particular moment.. The Russians had furnished him with all the information he had needed, and hadi done so willingly and cheerfully. General Eisenhower' said he could conceive no worse headache for the Germans than having their communications damaged and interfered with at a time when they were so stretched, and were fighting on so many fronts, and. when the movement of their armies from, one place to another was so very important. In the past few days the Allies had had enough of a break in the weather to enable their air forces to get back in the air in a particularly big way. He did not think there was anyone in Germany strong enough to take the lead in establishing a real underground movement hostile to the regime. Hitler’s ability to keep a harassed and suffering people together was extraordinary. Referring' to the release of Allied prisoners of war as new parts of Germany were occupied, General Eisenhower said that many were now in Russian hands, and'arrangements with the Russians for taking care of them 'were completely satisfactory. Information was received from time to time of prisoners in very poor shape being sent to corners of Germany, but it was hoped that through the Swiss Red Cross we should be able to help them without any distinction of nationality. Asked whether the French army would be given a chance to fighi; the Germans inside Germany, General Eisenhower . said ho wanted more French divisions in the battle. He paid' a tribute to the way the French people were accepting the present conditions, and admitted that they were having a very hard time. He thought, however, they realised that suffering was sometimes as necessary at home as it was on - the battlefield in order to finish the main job—namely, (killing Germans. The French nation as a whole deserved a lot for the way they were taking it. They were not getting much to eat, and he was surprised that the criticisms in the French Press were not more bitter.