NAZIS BEGIN TO SHOW FEAR

Southland Times, Issue 24874, 14 October 1942, Page 5

NAZIS BEGIN TO SHOW FEAR

Review Of War By Mr Churchill (8.0.W.) RUGBY, October 12. “To show any weakness to such a man as Hitler is only to encourage him to further atrocities, and you may be assured no weakness will be shown him,” declared Mr Churchill, speaking at Edinburgh today when the Freedom of the City was conferred on him. He was referring to the chaining of prisoners of war. Mr Churchill declared that U-boat warfare still remained the greatest problem of the United Nations, but there was no reason why it should not be solved by the prodigious measures of offence and defence and the replacements on which the British Commonwealth and above all the United States were engaged. August and September had been the least bad months since January. They had seen new building of merchantmen which substantially outweighed the losses; they had seen the greatest tonnage of British bombs dropped on Germany; they covered the most numerous safe arrivals of United States troops in Britain and they marked the definite growth of Allied air superiority over Germany, Italy and Japan. “It is not my habit to encourage light or vain expectations, but these are solid and remarkable facts. The army in Egypt is confident that it will stand an unbreakable barrier between Rommel and the Nile Valley, while the fleet is once again confident that it will stand between the Continental tyrant and dominion of the world. The whole country is pulling together as never before in all its history.” Mr Churchill said the enemies had been more talkative recently. Ribbentrop, Hitler and Goering had all made speeches which revealed with considerable frankness their state of mind. There was one note ringing through all these speeches. It could be clearly heard above their customary boastings and threats. ■lt was the dull, low whining note of fear. These speeches were all the speeches of men conscious of their guilt and conscious of the law, CHANGE OF TONE How different the speeches were from the tone of 1940 when France was struck down. Western Europe beaten down, and Eastern Europe subjugated, said Mr Churchill. Mussolini had hastened to stab us in the back, and Britain stood the sole champion in arms for freedom and the inheritance of mankind. Evidently something had happened in the past two years to make these evildoers feel there might be another side to the account. The most curious part of Hitler’s speech was his complaint that no one pays, sufficient attention to his victories. “It strikes a chill into his marrow, because in his heart he knows that al. his tremendous victories and his vast conquests have n<V prevented his fortunes from declining,” said Mr Churchill. “His prospects have darkened to an immeasurable degree in the last two years. Apparently this bad man sees quite, clearly the shadow of slowly and remorselessly approaching doom, and rails at fortune for mocking him with the glitter of fleeting success.” Mr Churchill declared that all occupied Europe was seething with the spirit of revolt and revolution. Hatred of the German race and name burned fiercer daily in the hearts of the people. His soldiers dwelt among populations who would kill them one at a time when the chance came. The British commando raids on different parts of the enormous western European coastline, together with the mounting scale of acts of retiribution by the subjected peoples, had caused Hitler in fear and spite to turn upon the prisoners of war in his- camps. “I have always ’’expected that this war would become worse in severity as the guilty Nazis felt doom closing upon them,” he said. “In the west we have seen many savage arid bestial acts, but nothing comparable with the wholesale massacres, not only of soldiers, but of women and children, which characterized Hitler’s invasion of Russia and eastern Europe, where tens of thousands were murdered in cold blood. For every execution in the west Hitler 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. FAILURE IN RUSSIA

Mr Churchill said there was another reason for Hitler’s large-scale 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, -the fact that the splendid Russian armies are everywhere intact, unbeaten, unbroken, and even counter-attacking with amazing energy along the whole front from Leningrad to the Caucasus, the fearful losses suffered 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 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 Htiler’s alone, and that the generals were only carrying out his orders.

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