WHY NAZIS DO NOT ARM CZECHS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 45, 27 April 1942, Page 6

WHY NAZIS DO NOT ARM CZECHS

Why has not Hitler mobilised the Czech forces? Why does he compel the Czechs to work for him but not to die for him? Why docs he not send the Czechs to freeze on the battlefields of Russia?

The answer is simple: Every German remembers the Czech Legions. In the first World War whole bodies of Czech troops went over to the Allies, particularly to the Russians to fight on their side. This was no sudden action of individuals, but the carefully planned and long-prepared action of an entire people, who saw no other way open to them but desertion. Inevitably the front changed and the position was completely Veversed. And one force, which haci been making a show of fighting in the Austrian army became a modern prototype of defiers of death. Ihe Austrian deserters changed into the Czech heroes.

Full}* to appreciate the heroism of these men a number of circumstances must be considered: first of all the 1 self-control of tens of thousands who were closely watched and yet knew how to keep their plans Secret. Each one of them was- responsible to each of the others. One look, one gesture, one word could have wrecked everything. But no one batted an eye-lid. No one behaved suspiciously. No one spoke a betraying syllable. No one failed the trust of the others.

The Tsarist Army did not consist of free men, but of men who had been forced into their uniforms as much against their will as the Czechs had been. The homeland which they were to defend was a prison. They were themselves ready to desert.

If in spite of this the Czechs at that time leapt into Russian graves to give themselves up to men who would have given themselves up just us willingly, it can be imagined with what feelings they go over to the Russians, to-day. Nothing could prevent them from storming the Russian positions, not as enemies but as brothers. Neither the machine guns of the S.S., nor the torture of the Gestapo could block their way. No frost could be severe .enough no winters' night deadly enough, to hold them back from joining their great Slav brother-nation. Neither words nor commands were needed. They were led straight on by their own hearts. They had to follow and could not turn back. Their deser- j tion over to the Russians was like | a holy storm. j

What measures could the German S.S. men take against a phenomenon of nature of this kind? The most thorough technique of supervision would lose all value!

Hitler knew this. And therefore he gives up any idea of arming the Czechs. Therefore, he sees to it that the Czechs should have no guns over their shoulders and no hand-gren-ades at their belts. That is why he sets the Czechs to work but not to fight. That is why he gnashes his teeth as he sees how the Czechs calmly wait for their hour to come while the Germans perish in the Russian snowy wilderness. That is why he has given up the idea of making the Czechs die for his purpose.