FOILED BY SOVIET

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20622, 25 November 1941, Page 5

FOILED BY SOVIET

GERMAN DESIGN PLANNED DESTRUCTION RESOURCES OF COUNTRY (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Asbii.) (British Olfieial Wireless.) Reed. 9 a.m. RUGB Y, Nov. 23. The extent to which Germany will Pe able to derive practical benefit from the very considerable territorial gains her armies have made in Russia has been the subject of much speculation in London. One of the most informed discussions on the subject appears in the current issue of the journal Economist. The paper points to the formidable difficulties which will face the Germans as a result of the widespread destruction caused by the retreating Russians, a destruction which was planned as comprehensively as any previous schemes of construction

Only in those districts where they were able to advance suddenly and rapidly did the Germans succeed in salvaging the harvest or industrial property.

“A most serious side of the sabotage in agriculture follows from the fact that Russian farming is very heavily mechanised,” continues the Economist. “It is hard to say how many of Russia’s 7,000 tractor stations the Germans captured intact. If the sum of agricultural and industrial wreckage is added up all the Germans can hope to secure this year is some grain—probably not as much as the Russians exported to Germany last year—flax, hemp, crops and oilseeds. Coal and Iron Ore “Coal and iron ore are available if they can be mined, but Germany is not in great need of either and the iron is 2,000 miles from the nearest smelting works. There is manganese but the Russians supplied the Germans very fully in previous years.

"As for next year everything depends upon the degree of reorganisation possible. It is not likely to be high.

“Nevertheless the Germans’ power of restoring a country devastated by war and sabotage should not be under-estimated. Behind the front line a whole army of men is occupied in immediate reconstruction. There is an army of economic troops who make an inventory of captured foodstuffs, raw materials and machinery. Behind them are technicians, many hundreds of thousands strong. Corps of engineers and skilled workers l’epair water works, power stations, gasworks and the plants of factories.

“Parallel with and complimentary' to their activities is the work of an organisation which may well number 500,000 men. Its woi’k is the building of roads, railways, aerodromes, factories and housing. Behind them again are millions of aavvies in labour corps and among prisoners of war.” Fall in Production

The German army equipment which was used in the reconstruction of occupied France —light tanks were used instead of tractors for instance for the autumn sowing—is not available in Russia, since the battle still continues. Germany has to rely, therefore, very largely on the co-operation of the local population.

"Some support could be obtained, particularly in the Baltic States and the east of Poland where collective farming is not two years old, if the Germans reverted to individual farming, but economists point out that production would inevitably fall, as a result. If the Germans divided up the land into small holdings the result would be not only no surplus tor Germany, but even subsistence for the Russians.

This would not, however, hold true as regards industry and the Germans have already set up industrial companies in Russian occupied territory. Summing up, the Economist says: “There are no machines, the railways groan under military traffic. The roads are quagmires. Towns are gutted. To keep even a faint pulse of economic life is all the Germans can hope for this year, or perhaps next. ‘Collaboration’ did not get under way in France until February, 1941, and there were thousands of industrialists, large and small, with whom to work. Russia must by every count entail a slower schedule.”