NEW GERMAN BID

Grey River Argus, 17 June 1943, Page 5

NEW GERMAN BID

For Russian Support

LAND RESTORED TO PEASANTS.

(Rec. 8.20.) LONDON, JUne 16 In a report from the Stockholm "Tidningen’S” Berlin correspondent, it is emphasised that there has been a new turn in the German policy in Russia. It is aimed at enlisting the help of the discontented elements among the Soviet peoples for carrying on the war. The correspondent says: The Germans, knowing that their military power alone would not conquer Russia, are making this fact the basis of. a new policy, which is aimed at the consolidating of their present position. German sources state that Russia has .abundant manpower, and that, with the help of industries beyond the Urals and of the Allies, the Russians could replace all of their material losses. But, by securing the co-operation of. the peoples in Occupied Russia, the Germans hope to engineer a Soviet civil war. “The Times’s” Stockholm correspondent says: A, favourite theme of German military experts during the past few days has been that the German laeders are convinced that it would be absolutely impossible to conquer Russia against the will of the Russian people, and without enlisting the aid of the local population. Experts say that this is why the Germans lately have altered their methods. They now are inducing the Russian peasants to raise crops by restoring to them private ownership. “The Times” adds: “The German apologists now represent Russians as being willing to co-operate with the Germans under kind treatment, but that it is impossible to exploit the Russians by compulsion. The apologists constantly refer to the active military assistance obtained from an anti-Stalin Army, which it is alleged, is being formed under the renegade Russian, General Vlassov.

“The Times” says: “Independent reports from the Baltic States affirm that General Vlassov’s force does not exceed a few hundred. There is little real evidence that the new Grman “kindness” policy is being applied seriously on the spot; although since the Spring, the Nazi chiefs have been giving the land to the peasants here and there in White Russia, and in the Ukraine. “A slackening of the bridle has also been tried fitfully since March in the Baltic States, without gaining for the Germans widespread willing support.”