NEW PHASE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 February 1943, Page 3

NEW PHASE

IN VICTORIOUS OFFENSIVE ANNOUNCED BY MOSCOW RADIO. MAZI LIES ABOUT NEW DEFENCE LINE. j (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, February 15. “With the capture of Rostov and Voroshilovgrad the Red Army’s victorious offensive has reached a new >tage,” says the Moscow radio. “Mighty successes have been achieved, and further successes lie ahead. With their recapture collapses the lie of l Hitler and Goebbels that the sacrifice of the 330,000 soldiers at Stalingrad //as militarily valuable because it checked the Red Army’s rapid advance westward, giving the German High Command time to build up a new defence line. “This prattling has been, exploded. Fhe Red Army already stands far to .he west of Rostov and Voroshilovgrad, and it is irresistibly continuing the | victorious march westward. Large portions of the Germans have a choice similar to that of the Sixth Army surrender or destruction. “These victories have again demonstrated the superiority of Russian strategy and are another nail in Hitler’s coffin.” HITLER STEPPING DOWN? The Berne correspondent of the New York Times” says it is reported from neutral sources that Herr Hitler is preparing to relinquish the supreme military command as a result of the defeat at'Rostov and place it in the hands of Field Marshal Fritz Erich von Mannstein. Hitler has summoned the commanders of all army groups “for critical consultations.” , ' Von Mannstein is reported to have agreed to take over the direction of the eastern campaign on the condition that Hitler approves a radical retreat to a new front running from Riga (western Latvia) along the River Drina to Kiev and to Odessa, and also that he assumes the entire responsibility for the general retreat. The correspondent adds that neutral strategists accept these reports and point out that only a severely curtailed front would approximate to the depleted defensive potential of the Nazi forces > The'“New York Times”’in an editorial says that the victorious Russian drive is creating growing mystification regarding Hitler. The speculations range all the way from his possible death to nervous collapse as a result of the defeat. “Whatever the truth,” it says, “the indications are that he is no longer directing the operations, which the generals have now taken into their own hands.” GREATEST NAZI BLUNDER. The editorial quotes the Russian general, Chuikov, the defender of Stalingrad, who declared that Germany’s greatest strategic mistake was putting Hitler in command, and it continues: “The German generals have not relished the assumption of the supreme command by a former corporal; but now the spell of Hitler’s success has broken at home and abroad. “Nevertheless, the importance of developments should not be over-estimat-ed. Hitler is still a name to conjure with in Germany, and if Hitler has used his generals heretofore, the generals are just as likely to use‘him. The roles may shift, but the war [nachine remains. The recent rumours about peace-feelers indicate that the position might also be useful for propaganda purposes abroad.” The Moscow radio signalised the recapture of Rostov with greater emphasis than it has hitherto shown. The German-controlled stations had just been asserting that the Russian pressure on the Rostov area had relaxed, and that a slight Russian break-through at Voroshilovgrad had been sealed off. when Moscow dramatically interrupted its own programme. The announcer said, “Attention for a special last-min-ute announcement.” He then three times slowly read the High Command’s special communique, after which triumphant marches were played for a quarter of an hour, and the communique was thrice, read again.

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