ROMMEL’S NEW ROLE

Grey River Argus, 16 December 1943, Page 5

ROMMEL’S NEW ROLE

Anti-Invasion Chief

IN WESTERN EUROPE

[Aust, & N.Z. Press Assn.] (Rec. 7.10) LONDON, Dec. 14. The military >cjommentator, Mr Morley Richards, writing in the “Daily Express” says: General von Rundstedt has been deposed as the Chief of Germany’s anti-invasion front in Western Europe. The German News Agency announced that his post had been given to Marshal von Rommel.

NEW COMMANDER IN BELGIUM.

REPORTED SCOTCHING OF PEACE PLAN.

(Rec. 7.10) LONDON, Dec. 14. A “Daily Express” military correspondent says: Baron von Falkenhausen, another German military commander in Belgium has been removed. Information from Belgium says that he has been succeeded by the Waffen S.S. General, . Richard J'aunglas, who is an intimate friend of Himmler. There can be no complaint against Baron von F'alkenhausen over the degree of his ruthlessness. He ruled Belgium with such savagery that he rates high among war criminals who will be brought to justice. It is plain that he had become suspect for some other reason. The inference is that he was suspected by the Gestapo of being involved in a peace plan which they think General Rundstedt. who is Baron von Falkenhausen’s intimate friend and contemporary, has unsuccessfully been hatching. Reports from Switzerland state that General von Rundstedt, after paying a visit to Portugal, wrote to Hitler saying that Germany had lost the war, and that, for the sake of Germany, Hitler should give up the leadership, as it would assist in the matter of peace terms. ASSURANCE TO HOLLAND (Rec. 7.30) LONDON. Dec. 4. The Dutch Nazi leader, Mussert, in a broadcast from the Hilversum radio, stated that Hitler told him that the incorporation of Holland in the German Reich was not planned. ARRESTS IN DENMARK (Rec. 7.30) STOCKHOLM, Dec. 14. The Nazis arrested prominent Danes without explanation, but possibly it was as hostages in a campaign to halt violent opposition to German occupation. Those arrested are the editor of the “Berlingske Tidende,” one of Denmark’s most influential newspaper; also Kai Morgensen, business manager of the newspaper “Politiken”; Harold Lund, a “Berlingske Tidende” writer; anq Erling Foss, an industrialist. More than three hundred persons have been arrested since the establishment of the German dictatorship. INVASION PUNS LONDON, Dec. 14. Hanson Baldwin, writing in the “New York Times” says: The chief motive for the relatively slow progress in Italy is deliberate. The spotlight of strategy has shifted to Western Europe where a great ' amphibious invasion is obviously being prepared. Italy is becoming a secondary theatre. We are pushing back the Germans there with the utmost possible economy, reserving the main strength for concentration in Britain. Undoubtedly, we shall try with armour to punch through some defiles on the road to Rome, but there is little reason to believe the infantrymen’s slow and painful job can be materially speeded up.” A Reuter correspondent with the Home Fleet says: It can now be disclosed that a diversionary feint attack was made against Norway at the time of the Allied landing in Sicily, says Reuter’s correspondent with the Home Fleet, from a British northern naval base. The Allied ships, including a dummy convoy, participated. The enemy did not accept the challenge, but our time presumably was not wasted. Maybe, the operation caused some German move of large forces of bombers from the area nearer Sicily, and maybe increased the “anxiety complex” known to exist among the German forces occupying Norway, and it is more than likely after we left the area the German sea and air forces came out. looking for the non-existent Norway-bound landing force.

German Prisoners BELIEVE HITLER WILL WIN

(Rec. 12.10) LONDON, Dec. 15. i- Reuter’s correspondent with the Fifth Army says: The Germans expect operations in this sector to be resumed soon. About 70 per cent, of the Germans taken prisoner m Italy still believe in Hitler’s ability to crush the combined might of the United Nations. The German Army knows that it is falling back m Italy, but the interrogations of the prisoners suggest that the majority of the officers and men believe they are fighting a delaying action back to an impregnable line. There is at present no suggestion of the German morale cracking.