MORALE LOWERED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 September 1941, Page 6

MORALE LOWERED

PEOPLE OF THE REICH BUT NOT YET AT BREAKING POINT. IMPRESSIONS OF NEUTRAL CORRESPONDENT. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.20 p.m.) LONDON, September 18. The German public has entered the third year of the war with its morale weakened, although not yet near breaking point. The reason for this is that the Germans are worried by the slow progress of their army in Russia compared with the rate of the Western offensive, and arc tasting the horrors of war at first hand, as a result of the R.A.F. bombings. These are the conclusions of a correspondent of the Zurich “Neuezuercher Nachrichten,” who has returned from a tour of Germany. He summarises his impressions as follows: —Firstly, every German is asking when the war will end; secondly, the average German wants peace, but still wants victory more because he fears the consequences if Germany is defeated; thirdly, the people are still convinced that final, victory is possible; fourthly, 8,000.000 women are engaged in war work, with 4,000,000 foreign workers, of whom half are prisoners of war, making up for the manpower shortage resulting from the call-up of 12,000,000 men; fifthly, R.A.F. raids are so heavy that the Germans are saying: Bomb R.A.F. aerodromes first and war industries afterwards. The correspondent adds: “There is enough food to go round, but it is not as nourishing as the pre-war food.”