SPITE OF NAZIS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20913, 13 October 1942, Page 3

SPITE OF NAZIS

BESTIAL_CONDUCT ACT OF RETRIBUTION DOOM CLOSING ON THEM (By Telegraph—Presa Ahsii.— Copyright.) (British Official Wireless.) (Noon.) RUGBY. Oct. 12. “The British commando raids in ciifVerent parts of the enormous western European coastline, together with the mounting scale oi' acts of retribution by the subjected peoples, had caused Hitler, in fear and spite, to turn upon prisoners of war in his camps,” said the Prime Minister, Mr. Winston Churchill, in his speech in Edinburgh to-day. “I always expected that this war would become worse in severity as the guilty Nazis felt their doom closing upon them.

“In the west, we have seen many savage, bestial acts, but nothing comparable with the wholesale massacres, not only of soldiers, but of women and children, which characterised Hitler’s invasion of Russia and eastern Europe, where tens of thousands were murdered in cold blood. For every execution in the west. Hitler has ordered at least 200 in eastern and central Europe. For instance, in the first few days after Kiev fell 54,000 of its citizens were murdered.” Diversion of Attention

Mr. Churchill said that there was another reason for Hitler’s largescale maltreatment of British prisoners. He wished to throw a new topic into the arena of world discussions in order to divert men’s eyes from the evident failure so far of his second campaign in Russia. The heroic defence of Stalingrad, Hie fact that the splendid Russian armies .everywhere were intact, unbeaten, and unbroken, and even counter-attacking with amazing energy along the whole front from Leningrad to the Caucasus, the fearful losses suffeied by the German troops, the near approach of another Russian winter — all these grim facts cast their freezing shadow upon the German people, already wincing under the repeated and increasing impact of the British bombing. The German people were turning a stony gaze upon the leader who had brought all this upon them. Already Goering had made haste to point out that the.decision to invade Russia was Hitler’s alone, that the generals were only carrying out his orders.

Responding to cheers at the end of his speech, Mr. Churchill said: “Whatever may lie before us, we shall not flinch. lam sure that we shall rise superior through all our trials and all our duties.”