GROWING TENSION IN EUROPE

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 259, 31 July 1942, Page 6

GROWING TENSION IN EUROPE

Forthcoming Second Front CURRENT RUMOURS (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Received July 3.1, 12.30 a.m.) NEW YORK, July 29. The Berne, Switzerland, correspondent of the “New York Times contributes details of the German preparations to meet a second front in Europe, and says:. “German speculations are assuming increasingly a more realistic aspect, and franker discussions have superseded the earlier tendency in Berlin to ridicule the Allied threats. “The Nazi spokesmen now candidly state the opinion that it is possible British and American public opinion will soon press President Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill to venture on a land and sea attack against western Europe ‘against their own better judgment.’ “Meanwhile, there is no lack of indications that both sides are seriously preparing. There is no doubt the Axis has recently diverted rolling stock from the east to the west, while rumours insist that the Germans are concentrating troops in Holland, Belgium and France, though well-informed neutral military circles point out that these rumours are possibly a Nazi feint to mislead the Allies. “Informed circles generally, expect thnt the Allies would choose for a second front the most favourable coastal area between Cherbourg and Le Havre (the Normandy coast north of Portsmouth). Fhrther private advices from the occupied regions indicate that the attack is expected at the latest in the middle of August. “Furthermore, the latest reports from occupied France indicate growing unrest regarding a forthcoming second front, and also certain German military preparations, including the establishment of armoured columns at railway and highway junctions, from where they can be quickly dispatched in any direction.”

WOULD BE WELCOMED, SAYS GOEBBELS. (Received July.3o, 11.55 p.m.) LONDON, July 29. The Reich Propaganda Minister, *Dr. Goebbels, in an article in “Das Reich,’ says: “Mr. Churchill cannot rid himself of the spectres he has invoked. He is faced with a terrible dilemma from which there is no escape. If he does not open a second front, then increasing Soviet defeats mean a political crisis at home beyon'd his control. If he attempts a second front, a fiasco awaits him which may bring a decisive turn in the whole war. The Axis Powers are not afraid of a second front. On the contrary, they even wish it.”