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Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 88, Issue 96, 24 April 1944, Page 5

COLLAPSE OF GERMANY

CZECH LEADER’S BELIEF WITHIN THREE MONTHS OF INVASION Recd. 8 p.m. London. April 22. “I do not exclude the possibility of a German collapse within three months of a successful Allied invasion of Europe. The Germans will never permit lighting on their own soil," declared Dr. Edouard Benes, President of Czechoslovakia, in an interview with the Press Association. Dr. Benes added: "When the Allies reach the Western German frontier and the Russians reach the Eastern frontier Germany will crack wide open and refuse to fight. “I do not want to say the Allied invasion will be a cakewalk, but I am confident it will be disastrous for the Germans, who realise the end is rapidly approaching. “We know definitely that 15 to 30 civilians are executed daily in Germany for defeatist talk. The morale of German soldiers in the Italian and Russian fronts is better than on the home front, but the Gestapo no longer have the courage to interfere with soldiers on leave who speak openly of terrible defeats in Russia.”