“ON DEFENSIVE”

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20914, 14 October 1942, Page 3

“ON DEFENSIVE”

NEW AXIS FORMULA TRANSITION EXPLAINED “UNASSAILABLE POSITION” (9 a.m.) ' LONDON, Oct. 13. “The speeches of the Fuehrer and Marshal Goering express the transition in the military situation,” said a German military spokesman broadcasting over the Berlin radio. “There is a formula for it —from the offensive to the defensive. A wrong picture is gained if the formula is used to indicate a- weakening of the position of Germany and her allies. “However, the transition cannot be doubted any more and the slogan, ‘From the offensive to the defensive’ is not wholly misleading. The tripartite Powers, in three years of the offensive, achieved such successes that they cannot lose, the war, even if they limit their actions to the defence of conquered territories. This should not be understood as an announcement of our future war programme. It means only that Germany and her allies have won a completely unassailable position from which they can expect—with composed calm and in full certainty of victory—all the developments to come. Second Front Discussions “The end of the war cannot yet be foreseen, but the tripartite Powers have joined forces with time and space and can now cope with all military demands for any defensive offensive necessities. The discussion of a second front is in full swing in the enemy camp. If they would only listen to reason they would admit t'neir impatience, but Stalin urges them to go on. “Thus far all their plans and assumptions have been based on the assumption that Russia can carry the main burden and weaken Germany’s capacity to defend the continent. This assumption soon&r or later will cease to exist. It will then be proved that Britain and America missed the bus. The United States has embarked on a vast armament drive, but it is beyond their strength to reconquer Europe, Africa and Asia. ”

Major-General Koch, the High Coni; maud's armament chief, declared over the Berlin radio that a new German tank will beat the General Grant and Voroshilov tanks. “We studied the Churchill tank at Dieppe,” he said. “Our new type will beat it. The German soldiers in 1943 will have better weapons than now.”