HITLER’S BLUNDERS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 5 August 1941, Page 5

HITLER’S BLUNDERS

AS SEEN BY GENERAL SMUTS COMMENT ON WAR SITUATION 1 Pretoria, Aug.. 3. The South African Prime Minis- 1 ter. Field-Marshal Smuts, in an in- ! terview, said: “We. have made our mist, ic s, hut they were small. All 1 t iic I blunders were made by 1 Hitler. The first blunder was con- 1 tinuing to go for Paris instead of ' for Britain after Dunkir The 1 German is never good at changing | "The second blunder—a great mili-il tarv blunder—is Hitler’s attack on ; Russia. He undoubtedly expected n ’ quick decision to capture most of i Russij s resources, and then turn In i 1 the West again. Already the wastage:' cf men and material is vast.” Field-Marshal Smuts believes that j i Germany's attempt to involve Japan |l

further in the war is likely to prove< Hitler's third major blunder. He said ; the end of the last war came because , Germany collapsed internally and her; moral'- broke. Concerning this, the Hess affair was a light in the darkness, and possibly internal collapse of Germany would make it unnecessary to invade the Reich with a! large army. Field-Marshal Smuts disapproves ol j the suggestion that Dominion statesmen should join the War Cabinet in London. "The British Commonwealth is the first world State in which dispersals and decentralisation are fundamentals,” he said. "Suppose a crisis ; developed in the Middle East. Am I j not better in Africa? Mr Churchill j can consult me almost as easily as if : I wer . in a London hotel.” On the other hand, he thinks that I sending Captain Oliver Lyttelton to the Middle East and Mr D iff Cooper to the Far East was qriV good. Field-Marshal Smuts's post-war re , cipe is for an association of free, peoples embracing the British Com-' monwealth, North America, possibly j South America, and certainly the de- i mocracies of Europe. The main reason j for tlie failure of the League of Nations, he said, was Americ.’s with-j drawal. America had now learnt her "When the war began South Africa! v.-is divided in soul as regards fight-! ing,” he said. "That has passed. Hit j ler has proved my case for- me. We | to-day have a strong political opposi- j and a small subversive element underground. 1 can handle both.”- ',