MANY RUMOURS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 August 1943, Page 4

MANY RUMOURS

ABOUT INTERNAL STATE OF GERMANY AND SATELLITE STATES “SOMETHING AKIN TO PANIC.” IN BERLIN AND BUDAPEST. (By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) (Received This Day, 10.30 a.m.) LONDON, August 11. The internal position in Germany has been the subject of considerable discussion and speculation recently. It is difficult to sift reality from rumours, and to decide in what way inspired propaganda may infuse false optimism among the Allies.

There has been an outcrop of speculation following the announcement of important military discussions at Hitler's headquarters. Some people are of opinion that the German generals have taken supreme command over other matters in addition to the Army, others that Goering is to act as a connecting link between the generals and the Nazis. Others again think that Goering is not the most popular man in Germany in view of his once proud boast that the Ruhr and Berlin would never be bomved.

“The Daily Telegraph” European correspondent suggests that internal conditions are so bad in Germany that it is considered throughout the Reich that a military dictatorship will be established within one or two months, and that the Nazis will be forced to give way. He reports that ‘‘a certain measure of free speech has again become possible among Germans on the Russian front,” and that criticism is not only heard among front line troops, whose morale is beginning to be affected by reports-of the bombing of their homes, but also in Germany itself. In another report the same correspondent says an atmosphere of something akin to panic both in Berlin and Budapest has been caused by the fear of air raids, and that reliable witnesses of recent raids say they heard little or no hatred expressed of the British or the R.A.F., but curses “for those who began this —those who let us in for this.” The correspondent quotes a remarkably outspoken report on conditions in Germany published by the “Neuezuercher Zeitung,” one of the most reliable newspapers in Switzerland. It describes people, bewildered by the fall of Mussolini and staggered by Allied air raids, who are rapidly losing all faith in Hitler and seeking a way of escape from National Socialism. The article states: “The German people are faced by a terrible dilemma. Either they must fall with a Government which no more thinks with the people, or they must bear the consequences of total defeat. This dilemma explains the indecision of the German people. Rumours about a possible change of government are smiled at. Nobody believes in such a miracle. Despite this, a belief in Germany that the war will end this year cannot be shaken.”

The Stockholm correspondent of the “Daily Express” reports a German as saying: “Our tragedy is that we have neither King nor Pope,” nfeaning that they have no central personality to rally round except the Fuehrer’s shopworn figure. The “News Chronicle” says there is something approaching a mass revolt of the German people against the matter of Goebbels's output, and that many are tired of official propaganda.

While these reports are encouraging for the Allies, it is felt that they should not encourage easy optimism. Nevertheless, they are interesting, and reveal a decidedly different Grmany from that of a year or even six months ago.