GERMANY'S MAN-POWER PROBLEM.

Marlborough Express, Volume LXXVI, Issue 248, 21 October 1942, Page 4

GERMANY'S MAN-POWER PROBLEM.

In the reports of the latest assault against Stalingrad prominence is given to the extremely heavy casualties suffered by *the Germans. For instance, according to Reuter's Moscow correspondent, the capture of one block of buildings cost the enemy about 5000 men killed, and 46 tanks, in twenty-four hours. At the same time Hitler proceeds with his drastic intention to drag masses of workers out of France for the German factories. He pursues it even in the face of a fiercer uprising of the French people against the Germans and the German sympathisers. The Nazis' man-power problem is becoming more and more acute. The German Press and radio have made no attempt to conceal the growing dimensions of the problem. Indeed ,mcst of the recent appeals for increased efficiency have bsen based on this admission. Although the Berlin radio boasted on July 22 that "the man-power problem of the Reich has been solved," there has since been a constant reference to a shortage of industrial man-power which can be alleviated only by withdrawing men from the armed forces oi* by obtaining more foreign labour. Apart' from the inevitable strain of total war, there is no doubt that the sc-urce of Germany's trouble is the unexpected duration and costliness of the RusiSian carnpaign, The war against the 1

Soviet led to a drain on what the Germans call "blood-capital" to a degree unequalled at any stage of the war of 1914-1918. While there is no way of arriving at anything like the final figures, the Germans themselves admitted that their losses up to the onset of last winter exceeded those of the spring offensive in the v/est in 1918. Reliable estimates placed the German losses in Russia up to March of this year at a million and a half. This total has been vastly increased in the meantime. The present German offensive, prolonged over several months, has admittedly brought about an unprecedented carnage. So great have been the losses that, since the assault on the Stalingrad defences, the German radio has been attempting to reassure the public by emphasising the part of panzer formations and claiming that infantry and sappers have not borne the brunt of the fighting. Before the offensive, half the male population of Germany between the ages of 18 and 45 was in arms, as against a quarter in the the first two years of the war. Even before the blood-toll of the present fighting, last year 's drain in Russia had led to a weakening of industry and to conflicts between the Military General Staff and the Economic General Staff, and this must have been gravely accentuated since then To bridge' the gap, pressure on occupied countries has increased the number of foreign workers from 3,500,000 six months ago to 6,000,000 to-day ; but the troubles with France show the difficulties of such recruitment, even in conquered countries. This man-power problem, observes the military correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald, must increase in severity as the Russian campaign drags on ; and, as long as Soviet forces are in the field, it must constitute a serioiusly limiting factor on Germany's wider strategy. Ultimately, Germany may reach the point when she cannot at the same time keep 285 divisions in the field and find the labour needed for her economic survival. While this is admittedly a matter for the future, it at least serves to draw attention to the strained nature of Germany's present war effort. v —