“TEMPORARY WEAKNESS”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25364, 23 October 1943, Page 5

“TEMPORARY WEAKNESS”

NAZI MILITARY POSITION (Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 21. “We fully realise the temporary weakness of our position, but we do not for this reason overlook our strength and the chances of victory, which are bound up with this strength,” declared Dr Goebbels in an article in Das Reich. “Our military position during the summer suffered something of a decline owing to the treachery of the Italian Royal House. This forced us to make disengaging movements on the eastern front, as we had to withdraw divisions from the east to cover our southern flank. This made the shortening of the eastern front necessary. What happened in Russia, however, bears no relation to the dangers which Italy’s desertion would have brought on us if the enemy had had his way. Our command was confronted with an extraordinarily trying test. We fully realise how sorely during the last four months our eastern armies have been tried. “This war was forced on us, and it is therefore a war of defence in the proper meaning of the word. We must be temporarily content with defensive successes and use them to advantage to strengthen our general position. Our failure in November, 1918, has made the whole world believe that our moral steadfastness is particularly susceptible. That is why it is now so difficult to make the world, and above all our enemies, realise that the collapse of 1918 was a unique and tragic event in our history which will not and cannot be repeated.”