WAR OF WILLS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23616, 28 March 1940, Page 8

WAR OF WILLS

MENTAL ATTBITION , GERMAN PROPAGANDA COMBATING A DANGER J BY CAPTAIN CYRIL FALLS LONDON, March l In the last war the method of attrition, of wearing out the enemy before striking a decisive blow, was an important factor. It was practised by Falkenhayn in the Battle of Verdun against the French early in 1916. It was practised by the Allies on the Somme in 1916 and at Ypres in 1917 against the Germans. It was not new then and it has not been abandoned since. There is no need to discuss its merits or demerits here. But there is one point about it which immediately appeals to the mind: unless the combatant who chooses this method disposes of very superior strength, he must be cautious lest he wear himself out to a greater extent than lii:> adversary. Possibilities Reviewed The same may well apply to the method of mental attrition which is undoubtedly one of the chief weapons perhaps the chief weapon, in the German armoury. It may be the intention to use it only for a comparatively short preparatory period before launching a great offensive by land, sea and air in the coming months. It is, however, also possible that this general offensive may b e longer delayed, and that mental attrition, coupled with regular attacks upon our Fleet and still more on merchant shipping, will form the Nazi strategy for a considerable time to come. If this should be so it is fairly certain that the offensive against France will be of quite a different nature, in recognition of the fact that she lias, by calling up (i.000.000 men, made the heavier sacrifices so far. "Drip ol 'Water on Rock" On the one hand, the bombers will spare her; on the other, the propaganda will continue to woo rather than threaten. The peasant women will be asked day by day. almost hour by hour, on the radio, why their men should fight for the bankers of the City of London and the Jews in control of British finance. Germany, they will be told, wants nothing of France; she has not only said it, but also proved it. Why. therefore, should France be so foolish as to serve as the catspaw of Great Britain? The longer the technique of mental attrition is applied, the more dangerous it is likely to lie. It is all very well to say that the absurdities and the crudities of German propaganda provide their own refutation. German propaganda actually gets its effects in the manner of the drip of water which may eventually wear away solid rock. Discouragement of Rumour So in some respects wo have even more to fear from the moral offensive than from the material. The latter automatically steels the resolution and heightens the temper of a stout-hearted people. Where shall we find a similar dissolvent of the acid of mental attrition? Apart from the moral aid to be found in consciousness of justice, there exist two allies; knowledge of our growing strength and firm determination to increase it. In this respect ordinary citizens have an urgent duty to perform. They are caliled upon to give of their best, to keep up the hearts of the weaker brethren, to refrain from passing on defeatist rumour and even to discourage it strongly. National will is .created by the will of all the populaiipn, but it :;s maintained by the will of the strong and courageous.