PURGES IN GERMANY.

Kaikoura Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 58, 27 July 1944, Page 3

PURGES IN GERMANY.

WALL or SECRECY REGARDING INTERNAL POSITION.

LONDON, July 24.

“Behind the wall of secrecy flung around the Eeich this week-end, it is certain that Himmler’s n#m are carrying out one of the biggest purges in Germany’s history, probably as big as the Roehm massacre,” says the Stockholm correspondent of the Daily Express.

“A number of German divisional officers in France have been arrested or are in hiding,” says the Associated Press correspondent on the French frontier. ‘ ‘ Minor fights have occurred at Bordeaux, Limoges, Nimes, and Nantes between S.S. and Genian aimyl troops. The S.S. troops appear so far to hold the upper hand. “General von Blaskowitz, commend er of the Bordea*ux area, ordered his troops to prepare for emergencies on July 17. He was recalled on July 21, af-

ter the announcement of the attempt against Hitler had failed. He has been absent from his headquarters since, and it is presumed that he is under arrest. “An officer attached to Marshal von Kluge’s staff said on July 17 “this is only the beginning.” When the attempt against Hitler was announced he had disappeared. has sent a new liaison officer to all Wehrmacht divisions and regiments in France, and presumably also to the Eastern Front, where at least eight commanders have been arrested or replaced. Arrests in France continue under the slightest suspicion. ’ ’ i

GENERALS CALLED ON TO RENOUNCE HITLER.

LONDON, July 25. Moscow newspapers publish an appeal signed by 16 captured German generals calling on all German officers and iqen to renounce Hitler and his henchmen, and to end the war by refusing to continue fighting, reports the Moscow correspondent of the Associated Press. The commander of the 27th Army Corps (General Velkers) heads the signatories. The generals declare that their long service in the German army and their experiences in two world wars have brought them to the conclusion that the present struggle is hopeless. The Russians are making sure the appeal reaches the Germans by radio and also by thousands of leaflets dropped on German territory.