New Note In Reich

Northern Advocate, 11 February 1943, Page 3

New Note In Reich

(Rec. 1 p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 10. “New Note in the Reich" is the heading of a leading article in “The Times.” which observes that Stalingrad’s dead have been made the occasion not only for national mourning, but also for national exaltation of the martial virtues and self-sacrificial qualities of the race. The "heroic halo” serves other purposes than commemoration of the dead. It is being brazenly and blatantly used to obscure the failing of the living. Serious Questioning

"Not since the days of the Weimar republic has the Hitler party faced such serious questioning as during the last month. When the German Press complains of ‘heretical mouths,’ and talks of violent means to shut them, it is not unreasonable to assume that some criticism of the regime has begun to make itself felt,”

It is observed that a recent meeting of the Nazi party leaders, followed by a visit to Hitler’s headquarters, reflects the determination of the party leaders to reinforce their hold on the public by every means. The paper adds that what the Germans call “the law of hardness” is now in force and that Goebbels and the party machine are working the bogey of Bolshevism to fullest capacity. "The Times” refers to the “timely and admirable,” broadcast by the British Ambassador to Moscow (Sir Archibald Clark-Kerr) who drew attention to the use the Germans were making of the Bolshevist bogy and expressed confidence that it would fail utterly. “The Times” observes that the confidence was well-rooted and adds that British people regard the German move with indifference or contempt, for their alliance with Russia is the bedrock of the present action and future policy. “The bonds between the two peoples have stood many strains. They have, been reforged in the fire of war and adversity and they will not snap now that the destruction of German military power has been brought within reach as a plainly attainable goal.” The “Manchester Guardian’s” Stockholm correspondent reports that the state of the German forces on the southern front is badly shaken but in the'main are not disorganised and are still capable of resistance so long as they do not irrevocably lose confidence in their generals and the Supreme Command.

Not until they have laken first a sound beating by the Red Army when” winter is past and they are no longer able to complain that the enemy are favoured by natural elements can their final defeat be considered in sight. But these southern armies are utterly incapable of recovering lot any real summer offensive resembling that of 1942. The Germans in Russia are a much less formidable military force than that of last summer, whereas the victorious Red Army which faces spring and summer is more experienced, more efficient, numerically larger and more confident. The opinion is expressed in London that the Red Army is now concentrating on cutting the railways at (1) the Smolensk-Kharkov trunk behind Kursk; (2) encircling Kharkov and cutting its main line to Kiev; (3) pushing from Kramatorsk and cutting the only main railway through the Donetz between Rostov and Kiev.

Without the uninterrupted use of these three railways, the Germans cannot maintain their armies.

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