RUNSTEDT REPLACED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25802, 24 March 1945, Page 7

RUNSTEDT REPLACED

WESTERN FRONT COMMANDER

KESSELRING IN CHARGE LONDON, Mar. 21. Von Kesselring has replaced von Rundstedt as commander of the German armies on the western front, it is officially announced by the Twentyfirst Army Group. Von Rundstedt has probably been relegated to a command in the interior. The greatest possible importance is attached to the disclosure that von Kesselring has replaced von Rundstedt, says Reuter’s correspondent at Twenty-first Army Group Headquarters. Remarking that Hitler has “ changed horses in the middle of the Rhine,” he says that von Rundstedt’s dismissal has been rumoured for months, and has now been finally confirmed by prisoners, who declare the change was made several weeks ago. The change is likely to have the worst possible effect on the German command in the west, but von Rundstedt is an ageing man, and the situation was apparently going to pieces in his hands. There ai’e probably two explanations for the change—first, von Rundstedt’s loyalty to Hitler was suspect after the attempted assassination last July, while after the failure of the Ardennes offensive, which von Rundstedt described as the Germans’ “ last throw,” he was suspected of defeatism; secondly, von Kesselring, by his conduct of the Italian campaign, gained a reputation as the Wehrmacht’s best defensive general. tl is believed that the split between the General Staff and the Nazi Party is now deeper than ever. The General Staff has long accepted the fact that the Reich has lost the war. Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels, and company have made it clear that they will never surrender. They will want to continue hostilities, even after the army is defeated, east of the Rhine. They want the Wehrmacht to cover their retreat while, with S.S. divisions and the Gestapo, they escape to the Bavarian Alps. “• We anticipate finding odds and ends of infantry, paratroopers, and panzer divisions drawn up in some sort of order along the east bank of the Rhine,” said the correspondent. The Germans, although they speak of army groups and divisions, have an unbelievably small number of troops for the defence of vital Ruhr areas We probably outnumber them by hundreds to one in tanks, guns and planes. The blowing up of bridges across the network of canals and rivers which crisscross the whole area wili be one of the engineering problems we will have to face but we have obviously anticipated this, and when our assault troops jump off they will be accompanied by engineers with all the eauipment necessary to keep our armies rolling. Our forward observers have seen slave labourers across the Rhine digging long lines of ditches. Farther back they are constructing concrete steel blocks on the roads. Everybody is digging, building, or felling trees to place across the roads.