Delay Until Spring Will Not Be Of Much Value To Germans

Northern Advocate, 3 October 1944, Page 3

Delay Until Spring Will Not Be Of Much Value To Germans

(Special) LONDON, October 2. Reviewing the present position, “Liberator” in “The Observer,” believes from the strategic power which has been noticeable all along the front, that the Germans have got over the stage where they could be rushed. It appears that the period of pursuit has to come to an end for the time being, and that the Normandy victory has now yielded all its immediate fruits. “The Germans have succeeded in forming a new crust which is verymuch thinner than the old one which contained the bridgehead at Caen,” “Liberator” continues. The outcome of the final battle of Germany once it is joined, cannot possibly be in doubt. But the question is: When can it be joined? He refers to the problems of supply over long distances and the remaining short period of normal campaigning weather. Whether an autumn or winter campaign in Western Europe is possible, is a question no one can answer with complete certainty. The Germans may thus have an outside chance of delaying the decisive blow until the spring. Not that this should gain them anything worth gaining. It will be a bitter, uncomfortable winter with nothing in prospect but inevitable, utter defeat in the spring.

Germany's Future “Liberator” declares that the time has come for our political leaders to make some legitimate advances to quicken victory, and a clear statement of what, after unconditional surrender, is likely to happen to Germany, might be of immense value as psychological support to an armed attack. “But the statement could and should knock Goebbels’ arguments to pieces as he desperately appeals to his people’s apprehensions,” he adds. “Fear, far more than force, is today the raw material of Germany’s remaining strength.” Captain Cyril Falls, in the “Illustrated London News,” says that the Germans have made a certain recovery, partly because they have fallen back closer to their bases and reinforcements, but to an even greater extent because the Allied forces have been so greatly stretched and are so distant from their ports. He says that the situation regarding ports is very difficult and the longer the delay in restoring communications, the sterner will be the task of invading Germany.

Regarding the weather, he says that while a normal October would not involve a severe handicap to active operations, the same cannot be said of the next four or five months. But nowhere in the west will conditions or ground like those in Italy last winter have to be faced, and there is no reason why the Allies should not continue the campaign through the win* ter, though there is a reasonable prospect that they will bring the war in Europe to an end before it is over. A Vital Moment Captain Falls says this is a vital moment for inter-Allied strategy. Were opportunities to be allowed to slip through our fingers now, the effects might be a disagreeable and costly prolongation of the war. He considered that risks are justified for the winter which lies ahead, is one of Germany’s most powerful allies and we must do all we can to prevent it bringing effective reinforcements and support to our enemy.

Captain Liddell Hart, in the “Daily Mail,” believes that Nijmegen may become a second Caen in the strategic picture. The British menace at an obvious danger-point for Germany has focussed the enemy’s attention, drawing thither a proportion of his forces that are out of all proportion to the total he has available to cover the rest of his 400-mile front in the west. That should create opportunities for the other Allied armies farther south and ease, their way once they can break the stiff crust that at present faces them.