MIGHT BE SHOT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20907, 6 October 1942, Page 3

MIGHT BE SHOT

HIGH NAZI OFFICERS WARNING BY GOERING PENALTY OF COWARDICE (10 a.m.) LONDON, Oct. 5. It is reported from Berlin that Marshal Goering denied that any generals had been shot. ” “None have been shot so far,” he said. “This does not mean that the shooting of a general is impossible, because there is. no longer any difference in the discipline between the simplest,, and the highest ranks. Generals are no longer sent to a sanatorium if their nerves break. All cowards, whether officers or men, will be treated the same. This wonderful relationship between officers and men is possible only under National Socialism. With few exceptions, the army is closely united behind the supreme war lord.”

The Zurich Dietat’s Berlin correspondent says that Marshal Goering’s speech left a deep and unfavourable impression among the mass of the people. The fact that he stressed the consequences of defeat can be interpreted by Germany’s enemies as a sign of insecurity. It is reported from Stockholm that 4000 German soldiers were imprisoned for mutiny at Alta, in eastern Denmark, where a court-martial cashiered and sentenced to death 17 officers and 43 soldiers Many German soldiers have allowed Russian prisoners to escape and also some are reported to have fled to Russia. It was reported recently that 1000 German soldiers in the Folkviljan district were sent to a concentration camp in northern Norway because they “lacked the will to fight.” The Moscow radio says that the Koenigsberger Allgemeine Zeitung stated that two Germans were executed in Koenigsberg for high treason. One Pole was sentenced to death for attacking his German employer and another was sentenced to death for striking a German soldier. Two others were sentenced to death for setting fire to farms. The Tass News Agency says it is reported from Stockholm that German street indicators were torn down and anti-German leaflets distributed in the Norwegian towns of Goenigsvinger and Gjevik. The Germans in Skien made wholesale arrests after clashes between civilians and police.