HITLER SPEAKS TO GERMANY

Southland Times, Issue 24864, 2 October 1942, Page 5

HITLER SPEAKS TO GERMANY

Promise To Capture Stalingrad (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, September 30. “We shall take Stalingrad and rest assured that once we are there nobody will ever get us out,” said Hitler in a speech at the Sportspalast in Berlin. The Fuhrer, who came direct from his field headquarters, addressed an audience, including Field-Marshal Erwin Rommel, commander of the Africa Corps, Field-Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Chief of the High Command, Heinrich Himmler, Chief of the Gestapo, Dr Josef Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda, and 10,000 German wounded. Field-Marshal Rommel’s arrival was greeted with loud cheers. “I have not spoken to the. nation for a year, because I have no time to run round the world wearing a sombrero like Churchill. I have to devote my time to action and deeds,” declared Hitler. “Our programme in the past year has been, first, to hold on to what we have and, second, to wait and see who is exhausted first. Our main task now is to organize the vast occupied regions for the purpose of warfare, also for feeding our people. Our achievements in the occupied countries are beyond the imagination. Only a few miles behind the battlefront stands the agricultural front. Soon we will not have to send manufactures to occupied Russia. GERMAN VICTORIES “Our opponents have played down the German victories and played up their own. If we advanced to the Don and attacked Stalingrad—and we are

going to take it, you may rely upon it—and advanced to the Caucasus, that was nothing, but if the Canadians with a small British appendage hold out for nine hours at Dieppe that is a sign of the British Empire’s great strength. The German Army, unlike the British Army, has not sent others to the very dangerous spots. “Churchill is trying to frighten us with second front threats. I cannot say where an invasion attempt is likely, because I am dealing with an incalculable drunkard and madman, but I am certain that he nowhere will make a stand for more than nine hours. The winter of 1942 brought the hardest test. Nothing worse can come. That we overcame the winter proves that destiny considers us worthy of survival. “I have instructed the army to hold some points and let the enemy bleed in trying to break through, but to attack where necessary. Seventy-five Russian divisions were destroyed in the break-through to the Don.” COMPARISON WITH CRUSADERS “We launched the offensive against the enemy to cut the Volga, which is Russia’s biggest communication line,” said Hitler. “We found that everything had been destroyed, but our progress in rebuilding is amazing. Germany and her allies are crusaders like the oldtime crusaders against the Huns and Tartars. Fate may punish England for her association with Bolshevism. Japan has captured large territories, and will eventually capture New Guinea. “The home front will never let the German soldiers down. We will mercilessly destroy every saboteur and criminal in the community. Under no circumstances will we capitulate. We shall come out of this war victorious.”

Goebbels, in a speech, said: “Our armament potential has assumed a measure of which our enemies have only a weak inkling. At the beginning of the fourth year of the war we and our allies are completely intact in food and war materials. We have already overcome the greatest difficulties. Our victories in the past three years have cost us unparalleled efforts, but they have paid.” DIEPPE OPERATIONS Effective Air Support (8.0.W.) RUGBY, September 30. The British raid on the Continent, at Dieppe, was discussed in the House of Commons. Mr Churchill, replying to questions, declared that he was satisfied that Royal Air Force support was adequate and effective. He added that during the operations the commander of the military forces had made a signal which included a statement that the air support was faultless. Asked if further measures were being taken to meet the demands of the Army for still closer air support in future, Mr Churchill replied that this question was constantly under review. Regarding the performance of the tanks at Dieppe, Mr Churchill said that they had been held up by altogether unexpected defence of blocks at the ends of the streets, blocks which it had been expected would have been destroyed by British gunfire. Questioned about the mounting of the Churchill tanks, Mr Churchill said: “These are under continuous study for change and improvement.” The Prime Minister also said that there was no discrepancy between the announcement that most of the invading force came back and the official statement by the Canadian Minister of Defence, Mr J. L. Ralston, giving high Canadian casualties. The first statement, said Mr Churchill, had referred to the assaulting forces as a whole, the greater part of whom had in fact been brought back by the Navy. The enemy did not know how many men the British had brought back safely.