GERMAN VIEW OF WAR

Southland Times, Issue 24863, 1 October 1942, Page 5

GERMAN VIEW OF WAR

“MANY STILL BELIEVE IN VICTORY” (Rec. 10.15 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 29. The Germans on the whole are determined to fight to the end. Many still believe in victory, but they no longer pretend to see how or when it will come. The diplomatic correspondent of The Times says this is reported by a neutral of wide political experience, who has just visited Germany and Occupied Russia. Several high German Army officers told him that the Caucasus should be occupied before the winter, that the winter should be fairly quiet and that the summer of 1943 ought to bring about Moscow’s occupation after heavy and costly fighting. The officers expressed their views in a mood hovering between confidence and hope. They could no longer be certain of events, even on the Eastern Front, and frankly admitted that everything was vague elsewhere. HOPE IN MIDDLE EAST German political leaders hoped tha a Middle East success might balance the disappointment of the winter in Russia, said the neutral. The greatest hope at the moment was placed in FieldMarshal Erwin Rommel, who is receiving all the reinforcements the High Command could afford. German soldiers and politicians alike assumed that fresh drives against Suez and perhaps the countries beyond the canal would be launched. Much German energy was being devoted to “safeguarding” the Balkans and Occupied Russia. German propaganda boasted that the Ukranians were co-operating, but privately admitted that all work that must be finished by a fixed time had to be done by Germans or more trusted Allies. The German Army’s spirit is still good, because the men are bucked up by the memory of past victories. The German people’s political and national spirit is also good, but the strain of months of overwork is asserting itself. The Royal Air Force raids are widely discussed and recognized as only a foretaste of British and American strength. The Germans are daily warned that if they fail in their duty to the Fatherland they will become slaves to the “international Jewish plutocracy.”