BOASTFUL TONE GONE

Southland Times, Issue 24649, 22 January 1942, Page 5

BOASTFUL TONE GONE

NAZI PRESS CHANGES TUNE SOVIET SUCCESSES CAUSE GLOOM LONDON, January 20. The German Press strikes a pessimistic note concerning the Russian campaign. The Frankfurter Zeitung warns its readers against exaggerated hopes and admits that the Russians have pierced the German defences in the west. The Deutscher Bcobatchcr says: “After six months of fighting against Russia we see that events have not developed according to expectations.” The Borsen Zeitung refers to the severe winter, bad roads and terrific frost, with the impossibility of digging trenches or employing heavy guns. The newspaper adds that the German soldier is insufficiently adapted for defence against an enemy stronger than the German leadership. It is suspected that the Russians, experienced winter fighters, are constantly throwing in fresh reserves. “ONRUSHING ENEMY” An article in the German Press under the heading, “Defensive Battles in the East,” says: “The onrushing enemy must be stopped no matter where and how. At no point have Stalin’s storming hordes taken a single village which the Germans have not defended to the utmost. The German defenders do not know when the human flood will cease surging around them; they only know that somewhere in the rear their nation’s powerful forces are creating a gigantic new arsenal for fresh offensives which will bring victory. ’ The Bolsheviks are staking all on one card. The human reservoirs of the eastern steppes are being thrown in in the hope of overwhelming the front. Fresh Russian waves daily bring more difficulties, but victory will be achieved despite all.”

The Berlin radio says that M. Stalin apparently intends to carry on this very hard winter campaign as the Russian attacks now extend along the entire

Donetz front, but thus far they have been unsuccessful. The Luftwaffe is playing a big part in the operations in the Crimea where the fighting is developing unfavourably for the Russians. HIDING THE TRUTH In order that the Germans at home may not see the extent to which German soldiers are suffering in Russia the German High Command is sending the resting battalions to France. Many have embarked at Riga, from where they are shipped to France. Some have even been sent down the Channel to Brest.

A British United Press correspondent on the French frontier says there is evidence of the German soldiers’ demoralization having resulted in the bolstering up of French hopes for a German defeat, in the heightening of proBritish sentiment and in the growth of the French spirit for active resistance against the Germans. When Royal Air Force planes fly over hundreds of Frenchmen defy the Germans and rush out into the street to wave and cheer.

Recently a British pilot bailed out and landed in a French coastal town. Before German soldiers reached the spot the airman was rushed off into hiding. The Germans arrested scores of people as a reprisal but the whereabouts of the flyer were not revealed.