INVASION FEARS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 June 1943, Page 3

INVASION FEARS

BECOMING MORE APPARENT IN EUROPE SERIOUS TRANSPORT POSITION IN GERMANY. HITLER BEING CRITICISED OPENLY. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) (Received This Day. 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, June 10. Apart from the recalling of U-boats, many reports are reaching London of growing apprehension of an Allied invasion of Europe. The" Stockholm correspondent of the “Daily Express” says that for the first time since the war began, the German road system —the Reichs Autobahnen, built at Hitler’s orders —has been closed to private traffic. The German authorities! say the roads are being put to service in the war effort. Railway directors have been notified of further travel restrictions. Breakdowns of railways are becoming increasingly frequent. There is open criticism of Hitler in Germany on the ground that he blundered in concentrating on the road system and neglected the railways. Road traffic has failed to keep the armies in Holland, Belgium and France fully supplied. The American correspondent, William Shirer, author of “Berlin Diary.” believes Hitler can be beaten this year. He says: “The quick and complete, surrender of the German army in Tunisia is one of the most encouraging signs we have had since the war began. If good and perfectly disciplined troops will crack up in this way, the people at home may be expected to crack all the more readily. The quickest way to beat Hitler is by an invasion of the Continent by the shortest and most direct route possible. We must get a big infantry force on to the continent for a stand-up ( fight with the German Army.”

A “protection ordnance” has been published by the German military commandant in Belgium and Northern France, states the Belgian News Agency. It provides for the imposition of the death penalty for acts which may compromise the safety of the Reich or the occupying authority, or disturb the peace of occupied territories.