INTO NAZI ARMY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 50, 23 February 1943, Page 6

INTO NAZI ARMY

DRAFTING OF CZECHS

According to a recent Czechoslovak broadcast from Moscow the Germans enrolled forcibly thousands of Czechs in the German Army. Some of these deserted to the Russians. In almost every case, they were Czechs from the "Sudetenland," the territory included in Germany after the Munich Pact. Others were forced into the German army in Germany, where they had been sent for labour duty. But the Nazis are making plans for the drafting of all the Czech youths into the German army. According to Nazi news: the first step toward this end is to be. a plebiscite held in Bohemia and Moravia. After a forced approval of a policy of collaboration with Germany is adopted, military service for Czechs will be introduced. Drafting of the Czechs! into the German arnry is a sign of Nazi desperation and a proof that all other military reserves of Hitler are'gone. The Nazis know quite well that the Czechs not only will not fight for Germany but will eagerly avail themselves of the opportunity to desert to the Russians and to take up arms against the Germans as they did during the. First. World War. No amount of Nazi precaution will be sufficient to deter them from this determination.