The Timaru Herald. FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 1945. German Armies In Peril

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVII, Issue 23110, 26 January 1945, Page 4

The Timaru Herald. FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 1945. German Armies In Peril

QNE of the most significant pointers to the growing precariousness of the German military position along the whole Eastern Front is the announcement that Hitler has sent Himmler there “with full powers.” An inescapable deduction from this report is. that the Fuhrer may be losing faith in his Army commanders and has decided that it is advisable to have his personal watch-dog on the scene. Himmler is already head of the Volkssturm, or Home Guard, a militia recruited and led by the Nazi Party, not the Army commanders. A further deduction is that Hitler, after the staggering defeats of the past three weeks, how admits that the task of resistance in the east is beyond the capacity of the German Army and that arrangements must be made for the organisation of the guerrilla resistance with which the Nazis may hope to postpone for a time the coming day of reckoning with the Allies. As professional soldiers, the German General Staff cannot be far from conceding that the war is lost, and they would not wish, if the decision were left to them, to continue a hopeless struggle in which every cog and bolt in the German military machine would be smashed. Hitler, however, cannot afford to take a professional soldier’s view of the situation. An admission of defeat would mean the end of the Nazis and their leaders, and this is not the war climax Hitler and his supporters would be likely to accept. Their problem is one of. personal survival and whatever they can do to assure survival, or at least postpone dissolution, will be done. This must be the basic conflict between the Nazi leaders and the military commanders. Himmler’s presence on the Eastern Front suggests that a crisis is expected, if one has not already developed. Although the Red Army offensives are meeting with successes beyond expectation, it cannot yet be assumed that the Germans, in retreating, have not been working to a strategic plan. At some points they must nave hoped to establish a defensive line to hold the advancing Russians. Whether that line has been reached cannot yet be known. It is possible that the Germans are breaking in the east, but the dimensions of their defeats will not be properly judged until it can be seen whether they have already been driven beyond their planned defensive lines. There are signs that the Russians have advanced far beyond the limits set by the German High Command in planning for retreat and a subsequent stand. It is clears for example, that the Germans must have thought that they would be better able than they have been to exploit the defensive advantages open to them in East Prussia. There is an excellent chance now that the Russians, by driving to Elbing, at the mouth of the Vistula, will be able to isolate the whole of East Prussia, thus depriving the German Fligh Command of the effective use of up to 300,000 men. Equally spectacular progress is being made in Silesia, and it seems that the battle for Breslau has begun. The loss of the industrial province of Silesia is the worst blow Germany could suffer, except that of losing the Rhur. A report coming to the Neiv York Tinies by way of Berne states that the German High Command has notified the Nazi leaders that it cannot hold out for more than six weeks. It is further reported that military authorities in Washington do not discount the possibility of an early German collapse, but they are said to be following the policy of being prepared for fighting of indefinite length. If the German armies have been so severely and unexpectedly pressed that they are unable to establish satisfactory defensive lines, then the chance of an early total collapse on the Eastern Front cannot be ruled out. Time is the only doubtful factor in the general military situation in Europe. A large number of German divisions are being held in Italy by the Fifth and Eighth Armies; these are men urgently required to sustain the Germans two-front war. The German Armies in the east and west will be crushed, but that may take some time yet. The rapidity of the Red Army’s/progress could in itself be dangerous. It is conceivable that the Russians may be compelled to extent/their supply lines too much. The coming fortnight should show whether there is anything in this danger, and it should show also what defensive capacity remains with the Germans. The European war may be near its greatest climax, but if not that, it has certainly reached orie of the lesser climaxes leading on to the final triumph of the Allies in the field.