GERMAN CLAIM

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 102, 25 January 1943, Page 5

GERMAN CLAIM

Wehrmacht Ready To Counter-Attack (Received January 24, 7 p.m.) LONDON, January 23. Military authorities in Berlin claim that the situation of the Russian troops will change for the worse when the German High Command abandons its tactics of falling back to prearranged positions to avoid unjustifiably high losses. The Axis forces are ready to begin large-scale counter-attacks on the whole of the eastern front,' they declare. The Berlin “Nachtausgabe” says: “Never in history has a limited number of any nation’s army been confronted with such a concentration of tanks and guns as our men at Stalingrad. The German army is steadfast. The German factory workers, even under the spell of the events on the eastern front, must, not allow their thoughts to wander from their duty. Their work was never so important as it is now.” A Spring Offensive. According to Swiss reports, Germany will use the last reserves of Axis manpower in Europe to form an army for a spring offensive against Russia. The “Daily Telegraph’s” Berne correspondent estimates the strength of this army at 250 divisions—about 3,500,000 men. The army will be raised in Germany. Hitler hopes to pull the rest from, his satellites. . The Fuehrer still hopes to raise 12 divisions from Rumania. Under a new Government decree all Rumanians living abroad must return by February 2 for military service. Defiance of this decree is punishable by death and confiscation of all property. . , Dispatches from American correspondents in Russia declare that it would be over-optimistic to imagine that German strength is waning to the point where further Nazi offensives in Russia next spring would be impossible. The New York Evening Post's” Moscow correspondent says that the Soviet communiques since the beginning of the offensive in November have listed 22 Nazi divisions as trapped before Stalingrad, but these represent only one-twelfth or the Nazi armies. Hitler still has Probably 216 German divisions, plus 33 divisions belonging to his allies. Of these, five German divisions are occupied in Africa, 150 in Russia, .and the remainder are in reserve. . . Washington observers understand that Russia has recently been bringing a certain amount of pressure to bear on land and America seeking a greater diversion of German strength to other fronts so as to husband Russian resources in men and material. Westward Tidal Wave. The whole German Press has adopted a very serious tone about the miltiary outlook in Russia, says ‘‘The limes • correspondent on the German frontier, who quotes “Munchner Neuste Nachrichten” as an example. The High Commands brief reports have told the German people of the merciless hardness of this struggle, says tie paper, inconceivable tenacity must be maintained against the wild onslaughts of the enemy, who is determined to win whatever the cost. The Russians are suffering gigantic losses. The intensity of the battles exceeds anything in history. A German front-line reporter, in a broadcast, said: “A vast tidal wave is sweeping westward. Oh God, give us strength to stem this flood!