HITLER’S IMPASSE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20130, 27 December 1939, Page 9

HITLER’S IMPASSE

NEXT NAZI MOVE SEEKING WAY TO TURN EXPANSION OF RUSSIA LONDON, Dec. 12. When a British military spokesman was asked during the first days of Hitler's hesitancy after the Allied declaration of war whether Hitler was turning his eyes to the west, he replied: “Yes, but his eyes are going in all directions seeking a way out of an impasse.” This is equally true to-day, but the weather does not favour a typical German offensive.

The best Allied military brains, while prepared for almost anythin,? from Germany, even an early attack through Belgium, Holland, or Luxembourg, consider that any gigantic move on the Western Front is not likely before the spring'. Clash of Armies Accepted

They are convinced, however, that the Allies will be compelled to meet Germany’s powerful army—which has been built up at enormous cost nt the expense of, peaceful economy. The opinion in certain quarters is that Germany is more likely to occupy Denmark as an answer to Russia’s expansion and domination of the Baltic. Allied intelligence officers believe that a cracking of German morale should not be hoped for until the German Army has suffered a decisive reverse.

Operations in Finland may be protracted. In the meantime the anxiety of Sweden and Norway has become intensified. They do not know whether Russia will refrain from further aggression after the conquest of Finland, occupy northern Norwegian ice-free ports, or decide to overrun Sweden and Norway. Need of Raw Materials Germany covets Swedish iron ore, knowing that it is necessary to obtain more raw materials if she hopes to maintain huge forces in the field indefinitely, but probably Russia will get in first. Germany's uneasiness about Russia's increasing prestige in the Baltic is not diminishing. It is reported that the Commander-m-Chief of the German Navy, GrandAdmiral Raeder, recommended that the raiding pocket battleships should be brought back to strengthen the Baltic Fleet.

The Chief of the High Command the German Armed Forces, General Keitel, considers that Germany's northern flank is not covered from the sea, and that her eastern land frontier is insufficiently garrisoned He urges the formation °f 40 new divisions. Even these would not permit Germany to fight both in the cast and in the west. For this purpose Germany would require a total of 200 divisions, which could not be provided before the summer.