CHAOTIC RETREAT

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25177, 14 April 1945, Page 8

CHAOTIC RETREAT

LUFTWAFFE'S FLIGHT

SIZABLE FORGE . (Reed. 0.30 p.m.) LONDON, April. 13 The Luftwaffe is in full chaotic retreat, says Reuter's correspondent with a tactical air force. So intent is it on saving aircraft from th'e Allied ground spearheads that it is unable to mount an organised offensive against the open targets presented l),y our lank columns. •The enemy has abandoned airfield after airfield,- hut it has saved a sizable force of lighters and bombers which are now drawn up on the airfield* of Schleswig-Holstein and the Balticcoast of Denmark, where the Germans are hurriedly trying to sort them out and muster the right kinds of fuel and armament while they are still out of the range of the Allied tactical air forces. Indications are, however, that they will lose tfie race. The Luftwaffe's internal chaos is so great that, by the time a semblance of order is established, the Allied tactical air forces will have moved forward in full strength. s The Luftwaffe's tactical air force, as .such, has ceased to exist, because their tactical planes have fallen back into the area formerly allotted to the defence of the Keich.

Allied ground forces are overrunning , airfields .so quickly that German pilots are taking off without orders and flying ' to aerodromes beyond Hamburg, which ' in many cases are so crowded that they are refused permission to land. Huns dreds of combat planes are landing on ' aerodromes equipped only for trainers, with no facilities for operating a fighting air force. The Germans have saved a sur- ■ prisingly large number of jet planes,' and i tho extent to which they switched production is only now becoming clear. ■ Allied experts believe that, given an- ■ other year, the Germans would have ■ had a complete jet-propelled air force. The Germans are estimated still to have i 1000 fighters—jet and otherwise — available in the north, but so far the ! lack of fuel and lack of control has kent them out of the air. The Luftwaffe has lost • r 'o to 60 per cent of its operational airfields to the Allies and to the Russians. : STARVATION AHEAD PROSPECTS FOR GERMANS POOR HARVEST EXPECTED LONDON, April 12 Many Germans face starvation next year. It is estimated that the next harvest will be about half Germany's pre-war crop, which even then had to be supplemented bv heavy imports. A Supreme Headquarters spokesman said: "it is obvious that Germany is not going to receive food from any nation producing a surplus." No Allied food is at present going into Germany, but actually food is being taken from German stocks for the purpose of feeding dispossessed persons, and •'!600 jiead of cattle have been returned to liberated areas in Holland in partial atonement of German thefts of Dutch livestock. Most captured German towns have had sufficient food stocks for two months, but it is not known what will happen when these are exhausted. The present German ration is 1000 calories daily, compared with the French ration of 1600. A ration of 2500 calories daily is a safe minimum. The youngest of German children are already showing signs of malnutrition, but most of the adults appear well fed and sleek. The Allied Military Government is urging the Germans to cultivate every possible square foot of ground, but the problem is complicated, because most of Germany's food is grown in the eastern areas, which the Russians have overrun, while about 10,000,000 refugees hare fled westward. 20 OFFICERS KILLED OCCUPATION AUTHORITIES (Rprri. 535 p.m.) LONDON. April 12 Twenty officers of the Allied military government in Germany have been killed, more than 90 are wounded and a number are missing, says a correspondent at Supreme Headquarters. * ADVICE TO EVACUEES REMAIN OUT OF LONDON (Reed. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON, April 12 The Government does not wish evacuees from London to return home yet, says the British official wireless, i Mr Churchill made a statement, to this effect answering a question from Mr Arthur Greenwood. Deputy-Leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party, whether he had any advice to give evacuees from Greater London who were now living in various parts of the country and who looked forward to returning home "My earnest and urgent advice, ' Mr Churchill said, "is that all the •500,000 Londoners now accommodated in reception areas under the Government's evacuation scheme should stay where they are for the present. As soon as the time is ripe they will be told of the Government's organised arrangements for their return in comfort and with all due speed. "Tn view of the great number of bomb-damaged houses* in the London area which still have to be made habitable this arrangement will provide that those evacuees who have no proper homes should remain in reception areas until thev can be rehoused."

GESTAPO CHIEF KILLED (Reed. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON, April 12

The Gestapo chief of Stavanger, Norway, S.S. Obor-St-urmfuhrer Wilkcns, was shot dead by Norwegian patriots, reports the Kxehange Telegraph. The patriots opened fire on a police party which Wilkcns was leading on a security raid. Six others were wounded.