KLUGE FAILED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21830, 28 September 1945, Page 3

KLUGE FAILED

LEAD SURRENDER

GERMANS IN WEST

SUICIDE FOLLOWS

LONDON. Sept. 26.

Field Marshal von Kluge who succeeded Field Marshal von Rundstedt as Commander-in-Chief of the German armies in the west, committed suicide after the failure of an attempt to make contact with an Allied patrol with whom he intended to discuss the surrender of all the. western armies.

This is revealed in charred fragments of transcripts of statements at meetings which Hitler held with Field Marshal Keitel and others at Hitler’s secret headquarters, says the Associated Press correspondent in Berlin.

Himmler, speaking to Keitel on August 3, 1944, said that von Kluge believed the Germans, after capitulation, would join the British against Russia. He added: ’This is totally idiotic. It is childish and naive to hope for a favourable political moment at a time of military defeat.” Hitler, worried bv von Kluge’s suicide, said: “Gabbling has started. Things which are hair-raising are coming to light. The German people were previously silent. Now everyone is talking. I don’t want to spread it further. If it is known that von Kluge intended to lead the whole western army to capitulation, it wouldn't, perhaps, lead to a moral collapse of the people but it would result in hate of the army. “This war is no convenience for me. I have been shut off from the outside world for two years. I have not visited a theatre, have not heard a concert or seen a film. I live only for a single mission—to lead this battle because I know that unless there is an iron will behind it the battle will not be won. "I blame the General Staff. They, instead of always displaying iron will, have weakened the front-line officers. When General Staff officers go to the front, they spread pessimism.”