ENEMY TO BE HIT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 December 1943, Page 3

ENEMY TO BE HIT

IN THE COMING INVASION OF EUROPE WITH EVERYTHING AVAILABLE. UNEASY ANTICIPATIONS IN BERLIN. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) NEW YORK, December 29. “The exact proportion of American to British troops in the joint operations which are to be conducted in northwestern Europe is a military secret which the Germans would like to know but will not learn from any official source in this country,” said the American chiefs of staff in a statement.

“There has been no disagreement between the British and- American chiefs of staff on that proportion for the reason that both countries are going to hit the enemy with everything available,” the statement added. ’“The British, with one-third the population of this country, already have a considerably larger number of troops in the Mediterranean theatre. For the other European operations they are going to put in everything they have, and we are going to put in everything we can get there.” Following upon the naming of the Anglo-American leaders, German commentators have been preoccupied today with the prospect of an Allied onslaught on Europe. The Berlin radio’s military commentator forecasts an invasion in the west at an early date, and says there are important shipping concentrations in the harbours of southern England and also an increase in the railway traffic. “Synchronisation of the Russian coun-ter-offensive, which has already begun, with an invasion in the west was certainly agreed upon at Teheran,” he adds.

The German news agency’s military expert, Hallensleben, has made the same point, saying that German military circles believe the Allies cannot postpone the invasion too long in view of the fact that the Russian winter offensive depends on relief action. “Everything the enemy has been saying and doing since the Teheran conference indicates that the time has come to ‘risk the attempt,” a Berlin radio speaker declared. “Every Frenchman feels he is living in a gigantic fortress compared with which the Maginot Line was only a small-scale model. The Germans in France are now reckoning on the possibility of an Allied landing and have instructed the population to go into the collars if it occurs.” The Ankara radio tonight forecast an invasion of Europe soon. The announcer said that speculation on the second front, coupled with the renewed Russian offensive, was getting big headlines in the Turkish Press. Detailed plans of Germany’s Atlantic wall defences are believed to have reached the British High Command, says a Stockholm message. The information is said to have been carried to Britain by a Danish officer, who escaped by plane. The Gestapo has arrested the .officer’s fiancee and two friends for complicity.

ALLIED COMMAND

ADDITIONAL - AMERICAN APPOINTMENTS. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) WASHINGTON. December 28. President Roosevelt announced that Lieutenant-General Jacob Devers will command the American forces in the Mediterranean theatre and would also be Deputy Supreme Commander of al! the Allied forces in that area. Major-General James Doolittle will command the U.S. Eighth Army Air Force, based on Britain. Lieutenant-General Ira C. Eaker will be Allied air commander in the Mediterranean, succeeding Air Chief Marshal Tedder; and Major-General Nathan Twining will command the U.S. 15th Army Air Force in the Mediterranean area. Lieutenant-General Devers, who becomes General Maitland Wilson’s deputy, is a tank expert. He was the chief of the United States armoured forces before replacing General Eisenhower in command of the American Army in the United Kingdom. He is aged' 53, and was an army athlete. Before the war he commanded an infantry division. ■ Major-General Doolittle is 45 years of age. He was an instructor in the United Slates Air Force in World War 1. In subsequent years, when still a lieutenant in the U.S. peacetime army, he gained a big reputation as a stunt pilot and also as a research pilot. Then began a series of long-flight records. He commanded the American force in the Tokro bombing raid, and later commanded the Allies’ strategic bombing force in the Mediterranean.

Lieutenant-General Eaker before this war was a well-known American plio't with much military experience. He was the first pilot to fly “blind” on instruments across the American continent. He was appointed to command the American bombers in Britain in July. 1942, and since then has led some of the great bombing flights into Europe. He is aged 47.

FRENCH ARMY PART TO BE PLAYED IN EUROPE. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) LONDON, December 28. The French Committee for National Liberation has now reached an agreement with the Allies on the part that French forces will play in the European invasion. A report from Algiers says that French participation in the European theatre will mark a big step forward in the growth of the French army. Throughout this year, French equipment has been steadily improving, and it now ranks with the most modern employed by the British and Americans. The report says, however, that it would be a mistake to over-emphasise the present strength of the French forces, or to minimise certain essentially political problems still undetermined within the army. General Eisenhower referred to these problems in paying tribute to General Giraud’s qualities as a commander in the field.