GERMANS PANIC

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25473, 1 March 1944, Page 5

GERMANS PANIC

DISORDER AFTER AIR RAIDS * STERN MEASURES TAKEN LONDON, Feb. 28. The Gestapo chief, Himmler, has ordered firing-squad punishment for civilians who panic during Allied air raids. Reports reaching neutral countries of mass disorder after last week’s air blows against German cities state that civilian panic seriously disrupted the efforts to control the fires sweeping through industrial suburbs. The German News Agency says Himmler recently directed German

town and rural guards to be ready in case of need. “ The main task of guardsmen,” the agency says, “ consists of searching and cordoning off areas, arresting suspects making use of firearms, searching people, handcuffing them, handing them over to the authorities, and making reports. The guards responsible for the security of their districts must not only carry out their appointed jobs, but must act independently in time of danger. Their work calls for the highest sense of responsibility when dealing with Germans, and energetic action and ruthlessness in the case of escaped prisoners of war.”

Gauleiter Jordan, of Magdeburg, in a speech to-day, admitted that the German authorities found difficulty in maintaining order after some of the heavy Allied attacks on German cities. The .London Daily Telegraph says Allied raids on Germany have deprived the enemy of his last hope of maintaining a successful air defence. “ Germany’s air force is gradually dying on its own aerodromes for lack of reinforcements from the factories.” The paper emphasises that Allied invasion plans are based on knocking out Germany’s aif power.