MESSAGE TO RED ARMY

Southland Times, Issue 25357, 8 May 1944, Page 5

MESSAGE TO RED ARMY

GERMANS WARNED THAT INVASION IS NEAR

(United Press Association—Telegraph Copyright) (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, May 7. “The Red Army is on the eve of a great-scale offensive, which will lead to final victory. Go forward quickly. Let nothing stop you. Give the enemy no respite.” This message was broadcast over Moscow radio on behalf of the Russian Command by Colonel-General Smetanov. Orders to all units of the great new Russian armies massed along the eastern front stated: “We will have to cross the Soviet State frontiers to destroy the wounded Nazi beast in its own lair.” A similar call was issued to the Red Air Force and Red Fleet. “The invasion is very near and it will come from the west, south and east,” said Berlin radios military spokesman, Captain Sertorius. He warned Germans that the Allies were using the lull in Italy to co-ordinate their new offensive with the great invasion from the west. “The enemy, whose attack must be reckoned as imminent, will come up against many great surprises. This is particularly true of those enemy formations which will try to land by parachute and glider far behind the coastal front.” These are extracts from Field-Marshal Rommel’s speech to his commanders at the conclusion of a recent tour of the Mediterranean coast defences, quoted by the German News Agency. Rommel added: “The German soldier knows his fighting orders. He is armed with new weapons. He is ready for the utmost. Everything the German soldier contributes will go towards the revenge we owe the British and Americans for their beastly air attack on our home country.”