THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Friday, January 29, 1943. THE NAZI REVERSES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25136, 29 January 1943, Page 2

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Friday, January 29, 1943. THE NAZI REVERSES

Having once admitted, when concealment was no longer practicable, that serious reverses are being experienced on the eastern front, the Berlin propaganda department seems now to have become positively garrulous in its revelations of the extent of the disaster which German arms are experiencing. The German radio and press, in comment which is no doubt officially approved, seem now to be disposed to tell the people a great part of the truth concerning the success the Russians have achieved in their winter offensive. The admissions are, of course, accompanied by promises of a spring offensive on a miraculous scale, but Germany is assuredly learning more about the seamy side of war than was ever communicated previously by the Goebbels machine. The hopeless and terrible plight of the remnants of the army commanded by General von Hoth, which was trapped in front of Stalingrad early last month, is being revealed to the German public in heroic terms. The encircling movement which encompassed this force must, in itself, be regarded as one of the most dramatic of the war, but it was almost incidental to the Russian advance. The implacable pace of the Russian offensive created the great pocket in which the erstwhile besiegers*of Stalingrad were themselves besieged. The size of the forces, consisting of German and Rumanian troops, which were originally contained in this area of some 700 square miles between the Don and the Volga, has been stated variously. The head of the Soviet Information Bureau gave recently a tally of 36 divisions routed in the approaches to Stalingrad, and 22 other divisions encircled. In other quarters the original strength of the besieging force was placed at 250,000 men. Death in combat and from disease and starvation reduced this number very heavily, and several days ago, when their call for the surrender of the force was rejected, the Russians computed that its number had been reduced to 80,000. It declined steadily thereafter, to a mere 12,000 by recent report. The duty of this army was evidently made plain by the German High Command. It was to resist beyond the hope of survival in order to engage as many of the enemy as possible. That duty has, it would appear, been devotedly and self-sacrificingly carried out to the extent that was practicable. A force which had been concentrated against a single objective, and which maintained at its best a front of a comparatively few miles, could not prevent the development of Russian drives on a number of wide fronts. The annihilation of this bravely stubborn army writes “Paid” in the most final terms to the Nazi attempt to liquidate Stalingrad.