AXIS INTENTIONS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 9 October 1942, Page 6

AXIS INTENTIONS

WAR OF DEFENCE AND CONSOLIDATION? The four speeches made by Nazi loaders last week. Adolf Hitler, Joseph Guebbels, Hermann Gocring and Joachim von Riibbentrap, have the German war machine lias reached the maximum of its effort and that the future holds no more •blitzkriegs or major attack*?, Field-Marshal Rommel's remarks about moving on to Alexandria notwithstanding. There are no .promises of future conquests to l»e found in any of the passages of the speeches of the four loaders, if we except Hitler's promise that Stalingrad would be taken. The success-hungry German people have lo Im> content with that, and with Goeri tig’s rather revealing statement that whatever happens t;» the conquered lieoples the German Army, and perhaps the German people, will nor be starved. Goebbel’s, however, has since soft-pedalled the latter statement. (looping lias only put into words, in this statement, what has clearly been the policy of the Axis all along. The food of the occupied countries is for the Nazi Aryans: the peoples of those countries can starve if they are not wanted for the Axis war factories. Germany’s Future Strategy Hitler has told the German people that he plans now to hold his ill-gotten gains, and develop them for the good of the German jieople, if we read xvith his words those of Goeriug. It would appear that the German High Command sees the writing on the wall. For six years before 11)39 it had been perfecting the tactic of the blitzkrieg and accumulating the material necessary for its working. It was designed to overcome llie technique of defence us developed in the 1914-1918 war. Now. in 1942, after three years of ascendancy, the technique of Hie blitzkrieg has been met with n newly-de-veloped system of defence which make* it more costly in men and material Ilian the resulting diminished gains warrant. Taking the new defence as a model, the High Command, xvith its investigation of the problem of invading Britain and ils acceptance as too costly and nebulous <»f success, seems ! to have formed the opinion that it can successfully deal with any attempted invasion of Western Europe. It lends content to let the United Nations do the thinking lip of a new attack technique to overcome the new defence. This idea lit* in well with the im- i pression carried by Hitler’s words, , with their hint of a long struggle to I come. The German people thus are j left to look forward to another winter, , and another spring, and another sum- | nior. another autumn, and so on—lo j adapt Mr. Churchill's words when talk- ' ing of the ILA.F.’s offensive on GerThe rank and tile of llie German people will have few illusions loft as to what is 'to Lie their lot. Goering’.s j vague assurances of retaliation for British bombing "when sufficient aero- ,| planes can he released from other j fronts” will not he much compensation Sj to those of them who have already suffered, nor will they reassure others ; who daily fear the arrival of R A F. bombers over their cities.