DREARY DAYS IN GERMANY

Southland Times, Issue 24765, 9 June 1942, Page 5

DREARY DAYS IN GERMANY

GROWING DOUBTS OF VICTORY

(8.0.W.)

RUGBY, June 8.

Conditions in Germany are described by an American correspondent in a broadcast from London. Mr Joseph W. Grigg, jun., was interned in Germany when the United States entered the war. He was released recently. Mr Grigg said: “Life in Germany is a dreary affair these days. Britain is eating better, drinking better, smoking better, living better and getting more fun out of life than Germany, and there is a big difference in morale.” Every Englishman he met was absolutely convinced of victory. The average German also believed Hitler’s bombastic promises of victory until the war in Russia bogged down last winter, and the tremendous might of the United States was thrown into the conflict. Now the Germans were beginning to have their doubts.

A South African doctor, who escaped after several months in the hands of the Germans, described conditions in the German field hospitals as shocking. The doctor was put to work in one hospital where inhuman treatment was meted out to the German wounded. Bullets were extracted under a local anaesthetic. The wounded were given a few blankets and compelled to sleep on the floors.