CAMPAIGN IN RUSSIA

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 13, 8 October 1943, Page 6

CAMPAIGN IN RUSSIA

GERMANY'S CHIEF HOPE

"When the campaign in Russia is discussed the most Irequent comment is one of amazement at the performance of the Russians, yet pre war evidence, and deductions from the battles of 1941 were sufficient proof that the Russians had done no more and no less than might have reasonably been expected," stated Lieutenant-Colonel J. L. Seoullar in an address to the Auckland Rotary Club. Hitler and the German general staff knew that up to 19:50 Russia had the greatest army in the world,, that it could mobilise many more divisions, than could Germany, and that its war potential was greater. They knew from the days when they trained their staff officers: secretly with the. Russians that a new spirit actuated the Soviet forces. Against these disadvantages the Germans placed their own undoubted skill in Avar.

Dealing with the campaigns of 1941 and 1942, the speaker said the decisive battles were fought in 1941, when the tenacity of the Russian soldiers overcame the skill of. the Germans and forced them into a long war. Two years of fighting had convinced the Germans that they could not eliminate Russia from the Avar either by annihilating her armies or by territorial conquest. Lendlease aid and, the development of her factories in the Urals, plus the calling u and training of reserves, had enabled Russia to recover her wasted strength. The combination Germany feared, Britain-America, Avas against her and approaching the zenith of its strength. What she could, hope for, by prolonging the. Avar,, Avas a compromise peace which Avould her strong and in a position to resume Avar in, sy, 15 or 20' years.