HITLER MYSTERY

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25052, 16 November 1944, Page 5

HITLER MYSTERY

SILENCE UNEXPLAINED REPORTED OPERATION HIMMLER IN MAIN HOLE (Eecd. 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 15 Hitler was featured in a newsreel shown to German front-line troops in the last week of September showing him walking in a ward of a hospital full of German wounded, says the Paris correspondent of the Daily Express. A print of the newsreel was handed to General Pattern's troops by Nancy police, who discovered it among Gestapo«files.

This seoms to have been the last time Hitler was generally "seen." Hitler, according to all who have seen him. looks astonishingly old, tired and harassed, with his right arm in a sling. The film was shown to the troops in order to prove that Hitler survived the bombing plot on July 20. Tumour in Throat The Zurich correspondent of the British United Press quotes a high German official in Switzerland as saying that Hitler is at present in his country home at Berchtesgaden, where he has undergone a throat operation for the removal of a dangerous tumour. The official added that a Vienna surgeon, Professor Eicke, performed the operation. Dr Sauerbranch, who used to attend Hitler, is reported to be in disfavour. German newspapers published a photograph of Hitler decorating soldiers, apparently in an attempt to allay German fears regarding his well-being. The British United Press correspondent in Zurich says the attempt at reassurance was a failure, because many German soldiers in the photograph were recognised—and they had been killed long ago. Himmler's Powers The diplomatic correspondent of the Times says there no longer seems any doubt that Himmler is acting leader in Germany. He has extended his great powers since Hitler was shut off from active work through illness, and now nobody is able to challenge him. His control runs everywhere. German writers and broadcasters lately have referred to Himmler not with the full title of Reichsfuehrer der S.S., "but simply Reichsfuehrer—imperial leader. Two days ago a political spokesman on the German wireless system referred to Himmler as Hitler's closest collaborator, which term Hitler previously reserved for Goering, vho also seems to have lost authority. FLYING BOMBS RESCUES FROM FLATS SOME PEOPLE KILLED (Reed. 8.45 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 15 A powerful mobile searchlight aided rescue work when flying bombs crashed on blocks of flats in Southern England soon after dark last night. Many occupants escaped by sheltering as the bombs approached, and casualties are believed to be not heavy. In another area houses and shops were wrecked and others badly blasted. Several people were killed. Other bombs unroofed a church and damaged a school and a farmhouse. Coastal guns put up a continuous barrage as the bombs flew in. A number were blown up in mid-air and others were destroyed before crossing the coast. RICHELIEU IN ACTION LONDON, Nov. 14 The French battleship Richelieu, which last month was reported in Far Eastern waters, was during October with the British Home Fleet in operations against German warships, according to the Algiers radio. This was made possible by her high speed.