SUPER HIGHWAYS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 September 1943, Page 4

SUPER HIGHWAYS

GERMANY STOPS UPKEEP VALUE TO INVADING FORCE STRESSED. LINK BETWEEN BIG CENTRES. Germany abandoned recently the upkeep of the 3000 miles of Autobahnen connecting the most important German cities and industrial areas with each other, writes Robert G. Wertheimer, in the “Christian Science Monitor.” Instead of using these express highways for war-time traffic, users were warned that they could use the Autobahnen only at their own risk. My guess should not be wrong that invasion fear compelled the Germans to mine these roads against the approaching enemy. Much against German expectation, it may work out that these highways, built as preparations for German strategic manoeuvres, will become an important asset to United Nations armies. Soon after Hitler came to power, he ordered the construction of super highways between the great traffic centres. The purpose of building these overdimensional roads was manifold. First of all, it was used to absorb the greater part of unemployed organised in labour camps at little cost to the State. OTHER ROUTES. In pre-war times, the traffic over this link reached the greatest density among German highways. Another important connection between the Baltic and the interior of Germany runs from Stettin to Berlin; the whole length of the road is 80 miles. Also the BremenLuebeck highways leads to Berlin, via Hanover or Wittstock. If the German north is chosen for invasion, our forces will find a well-prepared route leading to the heart of enemy territory.

In case of an attack upon Germany ‘from the Rhine region or Austria, the superhighways between Munich-Nur-emberg-Leipzig-Berlin and Essen-Frankfurt-Heidelberg will be of main importance. The latter has connections with Hanover, Leipzig, and Nuremberg, and thus leads again to Berlin. The German east is using the recently completed Vienna-Breslau highway, with an older branch between Breslau and Berlin. A Balkan invasion or the closing in of Russian troops on German territory will make use of these arteries. Naturally, Germany-has been building additional roads since the occupation of the protectorate and the conquests in the east, and thus has finished the major part of the 7000 miles superhighway programme. However, the pattern for an invasion of Germany over its highway system uwas designed in the early days of the Nazi regime. Although the roads have been built to strengthen Germany, they will render the United Nations invaluable services in the speedy penetration of the German industrial areas and strategic strongholds. They will remain of value after the war and supply us with an efficient instrument for the policing of Germany and control of its production and economic relations with the surrounding countries.

PETROL SHORTAGE. Germany had everything prepared when it invaded Russia and needed only the gasoline to put its great asset of highest mobility of its military forces over the highways into effective use. As it worked out, Germany did not reach the Caucasian oilfields and was driven out from Maikop last year, and thus failed in its objective. The limited oil supplies available to Germany can be considered as the main cause for the relatively limited action of the Luftwaffe in the various theatres of the war. Surely, no gasoline can be spared.for troop movements over the super-highways and shipments by water and rail count for the overwhelming part of the German military, civilian, and commodity traffic. Our invasion forces will not be faced by a similar gasoline shortage, and thus we shall be able to use the super-high-ways for the conquest of Germany, even if they had not been built for this purpose. After our experience in Tunisia with mine detecting instruments it should not be too difficult to clear the path leading to Berlin. The German highways system offers the best approaches to the nerve centres of the Reich, having chosen the line of the least natural obstacles and regions with the greatest population concentration and war production. The North Sea region has been opened by the highway from Flensburg in Schleswig to Hamburg across the strategic Kiel Canal. The North Sea sector has been connected with the Baltic by the Bremen-Luebeck highway via Hamburg. During this process the youthful labourers were inoculated with Nazi doctrines and physically hardened. The building industries were greatly stimulated, until they employed 2,500,000 labourers, .and the cement production enormously expanded. In the period from 1933 to 1939 it rose from 3,000,000 to 5,000,000 tons' annual capacity. INCREASED STRIKING POWER. These highways were planned to serve the German military might be duplicating the striking power of the army through unimpeded shifts to all directions. Castling like a chess player, Hitler imagined he would be able to throw his troops with lightning speed in the direction in which they were just needed. In this way, he hoped to avoid the most dangerous military practice of dispersing troops in case of an attack on Germany. With special highways at his disposal, he .could concentrate his forces and wait to strike until the invasion plans of the United Nations had taken definite shape. The highway “miracle” was much used for foreign propaganda as well as to document the German progressive state of affairs and the constructive character of the Nationalist Socialist policy. In this manner, Germany gained unconscious admirers abroad and dispelled the suspicion as to the purpose of these major efforts. The investment in these roads amounted to billions of reichsmarks, while the automobile traffic in Germany would have never warranted such expenditure or. a commercial basis.