AIR OF EXPECTANCY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 14 August 1944, Page 5

AIR OF EXPECTANCY

EVENTS ON ALL FRONTS ANOTHER MOVE TO VICTORY EXPECTED SUNDAY PRESS COMMENT London. Aug. 13. There is an air of expectancy abroad this week-end. With General Eisenhower ordering complete operational silence about the American armoured thrust, with Mr Churchill and Marshal Tito in Italy, with the bombing of German coastal defences along the French and Italian Rivieras; with General Koenig’s order to French guerrillas to attack immediately all enemy elements directed towards the front, there is a feeling that another bound forward towards the defeat of Germany is at hand. Commentators are exhausting their adjectives and popular Sunday newspapers are inviting prominent people to give their opinion of how long the war will now last. An interesting and significant fact has been pointed out by “Liberator” in “The Observer.” He says that news from France has almost caused to be overlooked an event which is Of most crucial and far-reaching importance. It is the reversal of Hitler’s “west front first.” strategy and the engagement now in full swing of the German reserve forces in the east.

“Liberator” says: “Up to the middle of July Hitler stubbornly maintained his thesis that the decision would come in the west and that the German eastern armies would have to carry on as best they could with what they had. For about a fortnight now this thesis has not been mentioned in German propaganda. -Instead, the watchword is that danger in the east must be staved off at all costs. SCAPEGOAT GENERALS

“Rebel generals have conveniently been used as the scapegoats who have hitherto starved the eastern front of necessary reinforcements. And new divisions from the German Home Army, including ‘green’ troops composed of the youngest recruits, have since made their appearance on the East Prussian frontier and central Poland where they are counter-at-tacking briskly. It would be an overstatement to say it is these new German divisions which have caused the recent halt of the Russian offensive. This halt was due in any case. After the Red Armies’ five weeks’ unprecedented forward surge it was imposed by the need of consolidating, regrouping and reinforcing. “The Russians naturally wish to clean up the Baltic first and so free their four Baltic armies for the final all-out drive into Germany. Once that drive starts new German reserve corps stand little chance of doing better than the veteran troops which were wiped out on the ‘Fatherland Line’ in front of Minsk and Lvov, but in the meantime the new and allimportant fact is that the bulk of Germany’s reserve army is now engaged in th e east. This fact throws into relief the chance that our breakthrough in the west has given us. For it is now the German armies in the west which can no longer reckon with substantial reinforcements from home but must make do the best they can with what they have got.” BATTLE OF NORMANDY

“The Battle of Normandy is over; the Battle of France has begun,” says “Strategicus” in “The Spectator.” He expresses the opinion that th e American advance in Normandy has “been as amazing as anything which this surprising war has cast up.” He adds that it is now impossible to ignore the skill with which the Allied commander. General Montgomery, conducted the Battle of Normandy. He played his left to the advantage of the right and unleashed armour where it faced the freer area for exploitation.

“Strategicus” declares that in the development of the offensive the Allies are looking to the speedy nourishment of their armies in France, not only by securing ports whereby ingress should be most convenient from the United States, but also by finally destroying in those ports the main bases from which the U-boat campaign has been waged. He considers that the next few weeks will be critical for Field Marshal von Kluge and for the whole German position.

“It is remarkable that at this critical juncture, when the strategy which inspired Hitler for over a year is in ruins, tffe modern Nero should be staging this cautionary play on the honour of the German Army. It is even more remarkable that only now should he be setting his people to dig trenches for the defences in East Prussia. It is most remarkable that his spokesmen should be appealing to the example of Britain in the trying days of 1940.” PROBLEMS ON EASTERN FRONT

Captain Cyril Falls, in the “London Illustrated News,” says: “I believe the Germans have already written off East Prussia as at least temporarily lost, and the same may be true of the Balkans. In Italy, if they are forced out from their line of defence over the northern Apennines they will in. all probability retreat to the Alps. “In the Balkans they are now in an awkward situation. If it had not been for their extreme optimism and ynder-estimation of the capabilities of their opponents, they would probably have abandoned the Balkan countries some time ago, and would have drawn back to the Danube, thus setting free forces of considerable strength with which to oppose the Russians. But now the Danube has become an almost impossible line.” Captain Falls thinks the Russians are now forcing the Vistula above Warsaw in the direction of Danzig. Simultaneously they may probably try to force their way to Memel, thus isolating East Prussia. A direct advance from the east on the East Prussian frontier may, for the time being.' be not pressed so hard, but the province will none the less be doomed. Captain Falls asks, what will the Germans do next if they still intend to continue to fight? He suggests that their last hope of resistance would then appear to be the line of the Oder and the 'Carpathians, which would mean th e abandonment of Pomerania as well as East Prussia.

“I need hardly say I don’t mean the Germans would consent to any such sacrifices except under the heaviest pressure. They would fight whereever they could, especially on the lower reach of the Vistula, always hoping for some accident on the Russian side or some extra strain which would render the complete programme unnecessary. The same would apply to a withdrawal to the Alps in Italy.”—P.A. Special Correspondent.