NAZI GENERALS SHOT

Timaru Herald, Volume CLV, Issue 22831, 2 March 1944, Page 5

NAZI GENERALS SHOT

Retreated Without Orders (8.15 p.m.) NEW YORK, Feb. 29. The commander of the 163rd Division, General Englebrecht, Major-General von Lindemann and another unidentified general were shot,at Pskov a fortnight ago for insubordination on Hitlers orders, according to Berlin diplomatic circles, says the Stockholm correspondent of the “New York Times.” The trio were accused of retreating without awaiting High Command orders, thus needlessly giving up ground and jeopardising the Wermacht’s flanks and rear. Many other generals are in disgrace as a result of the episode, which is seen as an outward manifestation of a great crisis in relations between the Nazi Party and the German war machine. Hitler, irked by reverses in Russia necessitating nerve-racking dally retreats decided to revert to the more adventurous warfare he waged prior to Stalingrad. Hitler, with Himmler’s aid, is applying pressure on the generals to do his bidding blindly. The Pskov executions indicate that he has re-established whatever authority and prestige he lost at Stalingrad. Hitler is reported to be about to make a change in one of the most important key army posts to enable him to take big military risks to pull the Nazi chestnuts from the fire. Thus Goebbels’ recent boast that the initiative would soon pass back to the Nazis may be more than another propaganda bluff.