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New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25023, 13 October 1944, Page 5

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TASK BEFORE VICTORY MONTHS OF FIGHTING OPINION IN AMERICA (Reed. 12.15 a.m.) LONDON, Oct. 12 Leading Allied generals have been told tactfully by White House and No. 10 Downing Street to "go easy" on forecasts of imminent victory against the Germans and to exercise discretion when they talk to war correspondents, says the Daily Mail's New York correspondent, Don Iddon. The tasks of civilian chiefs are made extremely difficult and the public is confused when generals arc quoted as saying, "Germany is dead, but won't lie down," and the next day American or British Cabinet members give a warning that a long, hard struggle is ahead. The correspondent adds that the prospects of Germany surrendering early in November are considered by experts in America to be remote. While they are reluctant to surrender the hope that the Germans will be defeated before the end of the year, as General Eisenhower and Field-Marshal Montgomery prophesied, they now tend to believe that the fight will continue until the spring. The correspondent predicts that the phrase "unconditional surrender" will possibly be heard less in the next few months, although if the phrase is buried it will be done quietly to avoid embarrassment to statesmen. Quite a few Americans feel it is bad psychological warfare to tell the Germans that they must surrender unconditionally, because it makes them fight on desperately. But the Allied terms will be stringent, although the Germans < will get another chance of living again if they behave themselves. The correspondent suggests that territorial adjustments on which there is general agreement will include the internationalisation of the Ruhr, the Rhineland and the Kiel Canal, the return of part of Schleswig-Holstein to Denmark and the Saar Basin to France. A portion of north-west Germany will go to Holland, Konigsberg and part of East Prussia to Russia, and the remainder of East Prussia to Poland, which will also get part of Pomerania and Brandenburg.