TACTICAL SUCCESS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 November 1939, Page 5

TACTICAL SUCCESS

GAINED BY THE ALLIES IN DEALING WITH PEACE APPEAL. DIVISIONS AND DISCONTENT IN GERMANY. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. NEW YORK, November 13. The Paris correspondent of the “Xew York Times” says ilia I the sit nation created by the Belgian and Butch initiative for peace and l he British and French replies is undoubtedly an Allied laetieal success, placing on Germany the responsibility, for the futiire of the Netherlands.

Negotiations are no longer conducted by exchange of diplomatic notes but with armies in the field. The Allies, who were previously at a disadvantage because the Nazis were prepared to use military means if their demands were not satisfied, now match the Hitlerian diplomacy with an even greater show of force. The correspondent adds that it is evident that the opportune moment to attack either Belgium or Holland has passed. It is believed that the Munich explosion incident and the ferocity with which the Gestapo is suppressing manifestations of sporadic opposition to the regime are symptomatic of discontent which neutrals declare is openly discussed in all circles. One of the most curious features of the discontent is that the National Communist and left-wing Nazis are beginning to become very prominent. There is an inevitable reaction among industrialists, landowners, the middle classes, and the military against the National Communists., so that division within the Nazi Party is becoming more marked daily.

False hopes of the quick disintegration of the party and the collapse of Herr Hitler’s supreme authority are discouraged in France, but hesitation in launching total warfare, the Munich outrage, and neutrals’ reports all tend to prove that uncertainty and division have begun to reign where previously Herr Hitler's clean-cut decisions were everybody’s law. The German secret police are still busily engaged in carrying out investigations into the Munich bomb explosion, and on Monday the Public Prosecutor of the People's Court submitted a detailed report to the German Minister for Justice. Earlier it was reported that the Gestapo had traced parts of the mechanism of the bomb to two German firms. The police are looking lor a mysterious workman who has been wandering into the beer hall since last August. , . ,1 The Paris “Soir" says that lor the first time the Nazi police find themselves faced with an opposition ready to act.

Another French paper, a radio message reports, analyses the possible reasons for the affair as follows. 1. The Monarchist movement centreci around the ex-Kaiser. 2. The growth of Communism since the pact with the Soviet. 3. Differences which have arisen between Herr Hitler and Field-Marshal Goering. “POLITE NO” GERMAN REPLY TO PEACE OVERTURE. VON RIBBENTROP’S STATEMENT. (Received This Day, 11.0 a.m.) LONDON, November 14. It is reported from Berlin that the official German reply to the Belgian and Dutch mediation offer has been handed to the Belgian and Dutch Ministers in Berlin Press agencies state that Herr von Ribbentrop advised the Ministers that it would be a polite “No.” Herr Ribbentrop drafted the Note on November 13. The Belgian and Dutch envoys were informed that the Note was based on the British and French refusal, which rendered peace at present, impossible. HITLER CONVINCED THAT ONLY WAR CAN SETTLE DIFFERENCES. (Received This Day, 11.0 a.m.) STOCKHOLM. November 14. The “Aftonbladet’s” Berlin correspondent states that Mr Churchill’s speech convinced Herr Hitler that only war could settle the German and Allied differences. REPORTED ARRESTS VON BLOMBERG & OTHERS. (Received This Day, 10.40 a.m.) COPENHAGEN. November .14. Marshal von Blomberg (formerly German Chief of Staff) and other well known Nazis are reported to have been arrested. FACTORIES IN BOHEMIA CLOSED OWING TO SHORTAGE OF MATERIALS. PARIS. November 14. The Paris Radio announced that 6000 workers were rendered idle in textile and rubber factories in Bohemia and Moravia which closed down because of a shortage of raw materials.