ADMISSIONS & LIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 October 1943, Page 3

ADMISSIONS & LIES

OF REICH PROPAGANDA MINISTER “DEFENSIVE SUCCESSES” CLAIMED POSITION DIFFICULT TO REALISE (By Telegraph-—Press Association— Copyright) LONDON, October 21. “We fully realise the temporary weakness of our position, but we do not for this reason overlook our strength and the chances of victory which are bound up with this strength,” declared the Reich Minister of Propaganda, Dr Goebbels, in an article in “Das Reich.” “Our military position in the summer suffered something of a decline through the treachery of the Italian Royal House. This caused the disengaging movements on the Eastern front, as we had to Avithdraw divisions from the east to cover the southern flank, and this made a shortening of the Eastern front necessary. “However, what has happened in Russia bears no relation to the dangers which Italy’s desertion would have brought on us if the enemy had had his way. Our command is confronted with an extraordinarily trying test. We fully realise how solely in the last four months our eastern armies have been tried. “This war was forced on us. and it is therefore a war of defence in the proper meaning of the word. We must temporarily be content with defensive successes and take advantage of them to strengthen our general position. “Our failure in November. 1918, has made the world believe that our moral steadfastness is particularly susceptible. That is why it is now so difficult to make the world and. above all, our enemies realise that the collapse in 1918 was a unique and tragic event in our history which will not and cannot be repeated.” PESSIMISM & DESPAIR SPREADING IN GERMANY LONDON, October 22. A serious decline has occurred in German morale, says the “Daily Telegraph.” Reports from’ many quarters show that a crisis must develop if the Nazis fail to stop the rot. The German home broadcasts are more guarded than the foreign, but nevertheless the average German knows that the Wehrmacht has suffered a long series of defeats in Russia, and doubts whether the tide can,be stemmed. Underground reports agree that this pessimistic view is common throughout Germany. There is a belief that Germany cannot win the war, and the hopes for a compromise peace are fading. The Germans’ generally realise that the U-boat campaign has failed, and for every intelligent German the British-Portuguese agreement on the Azores has killed any lingering hope of victory in the Atlantic.