Nelson Evening Mail MONDAY, APRIL 9, 1945 WHAT WILL BE THE END IN EUROPE?

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 9 April 1945, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail MONDAY, APRIL 9, 1945 WHAT WILL BE THE END IN EUROPE?

ANY discussion about how the end of the European war will come must necessarily be so highly charged with speculation that events may quickly falsify even tentative conclusions. Naturally this question is piquing world curiosity and the trends may. usefully be analysed without assuming the mantle of prophet. In the first place the present circumstances stand in contrast to those obtaining on the eve of the armistice in 1918, Short of unconditional surrender there will be no- negotiation of an armistice. All signs point to Nazi determination not to make any formal acknowledgement of defeat, and, as there is no alternative party with which to treat, the occupation of the whole of Germany must proceed in battle order, resistance must be broken wherever it occurs, pockets of guerrillas must be liquidated piecemeal and, at a given time, the Allies „ will probably declare that organised if resistance in Germany has ceased J and V-Day has arrived. Then will fol- ■ low a long-term military occupa- • tion of the Reich; a peace settlement J may be a matter of years. P By now the Russians and the Westla ern Allies, at the limits of their ad- £ vance, are probably within 200 miles P of each other. In the south they are P much further away and a good slice p of Germany proper and CzechoslovaC kia remains to be occupied. This J mountainous country is the "Euro- [■ pea it Heartland” which the Germans [•- have claimed they are going to turn { into a core of strategic organised rei* sistance. To counter such a possiI* bility is one of the aims behind the V present southern Russian offensive. £ Much of this terrain is no more difP ficult than what has already been y overrun and any hope of keeping it ' a strategically intact is only grasping " at a straw. Bands of fanatical Nazis P forming themselves into “were-wolf” gangs, retreating to mountain eyries J and fighting to make the final Allied *1 occupation as slow and as costly as possible is. another matter. Operations towards that end may have alf ready begun. To be able to deny any considerable part of German territory to the invaders the defenders need to be

equally strong at all points round the perimeter where spearheads threaten. Such strength cannot be recaptured, for the crust is broken, the rot has gone too far, and the Germans cannot determine the lines of Allied attack. On some sectors along the route of advance, mainly in the centre of the German Plain, opposition is negligible and palpably incapable of guarding the national treasure chest. In other places it is substantial. The Luftwaffe has just shown that it is capable of making a foray and taking a thrashing, while Hitter has decided on the extreme step of installing himself once more in supreme command. of the ragged Wehrmacht in a desperate last bid to rally and synchronise the whole of the crumbling defence and place its detailed direction under his own hand. That is a step few professional soldiers would take, even in the present deep crisis. By threats lie hopes to make each divisional commander sta-nd his ground but there are great gaps in the shrinking perimeter where divisions don’t exist any more and how is he going to plug these holes? Before the end can come by proclamation it would seem that the whole of German territory must be occupied by our armies. This is now proceeding at a great rate and Hitler’s intervention might even accelerate the pace rather than hinder us. After tha| the calibre of resistance remaining in by-passed areas and melodramatic mountain hide-outs would need to be considered before the official “cease fire” in Europe could safely be sounded.