Former Panzer Chief Accuses Western Defence Of Defeatism

Wanganui Chronicle, 20 December 1950, Page 5

Former Panzer Chief Accuses Western Defence Of Defeatism

LONDON, Dec. 18.—Hitler’s famous panzer chief, Colonel General Guderian, in his book on the defenca of Western Europe, criticises Allied preparations to meet possible Russian attack and accuses ield Marshal Montgomery’s Western Union Headquarters of defeatism. Colonel General Guderian, who is the first senior German strategist to give his views of European defence, says Western Europe cannot be defended by existing forces, or those likely to appear in the near future. He favours a resurrected German Army as the foundation of an Atlantic Pact. “From information which comes from Field Marshal Montgomery's headquarters, one reaches the conclusion that they think only in terms of defence,” he says. “Measures taken by Western Union Headquarters up to now are more like preparations to hinder pursuit rather than a genuine defence plan.” Colonel General Guderian said he believed Britain and America could retain control of lhe Atlantic on sea and in lhe air in event of Soviet attack. CONSEQUENCES OF INVASION “Those two Powers appear to hope that, in the long run, this would mean victory. They do not seem to consider what would happen to the people of Western Europe in the interval. We in Germany know better. Central and Western Europe are today so poorly defended against invasion from the cast that the aggressors would be at the Atlantic coast before seaborne aid could arrive. The consequence of invasion for the inhabitants of those areas would be similar to what happened in Korea—and these consequences certainly would not bp eased by hope of subsequent liberation by Western Powers. If Russia attacks the British Isles will be left in the same position off the coast of Europe as Chiang Kai-shek’s Formosa now occupies off China. It will be reduced to an American base.” The “Daily Mail" says General Hans Speidel. former Chief of Staff to Field Marshal Rommel, is being widely tipped as the man most likely to fit Chancellor Adenauer’s requirements of a military leader who can build up a West German defence force free from the taint, of Nazism. General Speidel, who had never been regarded as a Nazi, is Professor of Philosophy at Tubingen University and has been working for the last three months under Chancellor Adenauer’s orders in the West German "security office.”