NO VITAL RESERVES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXV, Issue 85, 9 March 1945, Page 5

NO VITAL RESERVES

NAZIS’ GRIM OUTLOOK

PIECEMEAL COLLAPSE (N.Z. Press Association.—Copyright.) (Rec. 9.30 a.m.) LONDON, Mar. 8. The full meaning of Mr Churchill’s statement that only one big heave is required to end the war is that the Germans are completely lacking in vital reserves, says the Daily Mail diplomatic correspondent, quoting an authoritative informant.

The German General Staff has no alternative to which it can resort to avert defeat. It cannot switch troops from west to east or vice versa because the position on both fronts has reached the crucial stage.

It is unequivocably asserted in some military quarters that the German armies' are so battered and depleted that they are no longer capable of mounting more than local counterattacks on either the Eastern or Western Front, says the Washington correspondent of the New York Times. Observers consider that Mr Churchill's confident declaration that one good strong heave would bring Germany’s defeat was no mere oratorical flight, hut a statement based on military fact. Observers see a picture of futile local counter-attacks and defences resulting in the German army being annihilated piecemeal. Of 60 to 65 divisions she once had in the west, Germany probably still has elements of virtually the same number, according to authoritative estimates. However, instead of being full-strength divisions of 15,000 plus, they range from one-fourth to half that strength.

There is a growing conviction that the German armies will give up piecemeal by local commanders’ decisions instead of.cn masse,.