RUSSIA’S POSITION
“SHE CANNOT SURRENDER.” AN INTERESTING REVIEW. “Can and will Russia hold out? That is the question everyone is asking today. There is only one answer: Russia cannot surrender.” This declaration was made by Mr Gustav Deimel, who lived in Czechoslovakia until the German occupation, when he gaye an address to the Invercargill Rotary Club '.on some aspects of the Russian war. Russia, continued Mr Deimel, had a population of 170 millions, and if all the Czechs, the Slovaks, the Poles and the numerous Balkan nationalities were counted this total was swelled to 220 millions. Germany had not more than 90 million people. For this and other reasons it was impossible that Germany would be able to dominate Russia. The struggle between the German and Slavonic people was much older than the present war, he said, and he gave instances from the long course of conflict between them, covering many centuries. But in all history,' with the exception of the Crimean War, there had been no quarrel between the Anglo-Saxon people and the Slavs. The Germans had tried to paint the Slavs as uncivilised to justify their drive to the East in the eyes of the world. This drive was not only for living room, but much more for oil and raw materials. The alliance between Russia and Britain in the last war against Germany had been repeated in this war. In the 1914-18 conflict Germany did overrun quite a lot of Russian land, another repetition of history. But if ,one interpreted the extent of ’ this overrunning in terms more familiar it did not appear so impressive. The proportion of Russia taken by Germany would be about the same in relation to all Russia as half of Southland to the whole of New Zealand. “The- territory taken by Germany will be much more of a burden for Germany to occupy than it is a loss to Russia,” stated Mr. Deimel. He then reviewed the positions reached in the fighting and emphasised the German difficulties of supply through the Russian policy of destroying everything they had to yield. If the German advance on Moscow continued at the pace so far maintained it would be mid-winter before Moscow was reached and in the Russian winter the invading army would suffer more through the climate . than through the casualties in fighting. If Germany did succeed in getting Moscow the gain would be only one of prestige and that would be cancelled out by the losses in effectives incurred in getting there. Murmansk, the important Arctic port, was still in Russian hands, Leningrad had repelled the attack, and even in the south Rostov was not yet reached. From the point of view of practical value, Germany’s success in four months was very little. All the Russian generals, Timoshenko, Budenny, Zhukov, Voroshilov, Were men who had risen from the ranks. The Russian spring offensive, Mr Deimel said, would be led by General Blucher, who was of German Junker descent but had given brilliant service to Russia. Germany, he continued, could not risk withdrawing troops from the Occupied countries, which would wipe out the German control overnight if it were weakened; so that in two years Germany had gained little that would help her. “We can consider the whole war situation as most favourable,” he affirmed. “When spring comes in Europe and Britain and America are able to throw in their full weight of equipment, the downfall of Germany will be of such a speed as we cannot now believe.”
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 November 1941, Page 6
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585RUSSIA’S POSITION Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 November 1941, Page 6
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