DAYS OF TRIAL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25426, 6 January 1944, Page 3

DAYS OF TRIAL

GERMAN RETREATS FORCED BY HARD NECESSITY STARTLING ADMISSIONS (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 4. “ Defence in 1943 became our lot —defence against three of the greatest Powers on this globe,” declared General Dielmar, the Berlin radio military commentator, in a broadcast. “In the first few years of war,” he added, “ ours was the road of steady advance, but 1943 watered down our wine considerably. “There is no reason to be tormented by the thought that our storming advances of bygone times may have been a tragic error,” he said. “We are facing Russia —an enemy whose ruthless determination and complete lack of consideration for anything that elsewhere might hinder strategy have from the beginning singled him out as deserving of the utmost respect. The Russians cannot be measured by the yardstick of former times. Their command has learned much from us. The Russians in many respects have left us behind. They have surpassed us in everything in which numbers matter. The Red Army is an unparalleled fighting instrument. The sufferings of those who fight Russia are beyond description; they seem to go beyond human endurance. “ We have not retreated voluntarily to the Dnieper—we were forced by the iaw of hard necessity. We cannot gloss over the losses we suffered in 1943 in defensive battles. Enemy casualties, however, are absolutely and relatively far greater than ours. All tactical and strategical decisions after four years of war are overshadowed by the problem of maintaining the fighting man-power.” General Dietmar added: “ The Germans do not forget the wounds which in 1943 were inflicted on them. The Germans a year ago were in Tunis, Tripolitania, and Kuban, and on the Volga, the names of which marked the frontiers of German power. It is bitter to call them to memory. “ The heavy fighting in 1943 is a timely warning to us that the days of trial have not yet ended. We would like to think that the climax of adversities spent itself last summer, when everything and everyone turned against us.”