“RIPE FOR DEFEAT”

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20954, 6 November 1939, Page 9

“RIPE FOR DEFEAT”

NEUTRAL’S VIEW OF GERMANY BREAKDOWN IN GOVERNMENT (From a Correspondent.) LONDON, Oct. 3. “ Here was a country going to war like a sleep-walker with a loaded gun in his hand,” is how a neutral traveller describes Germany. The traveller, who recently returned from Austria to France, writes (states the Ministry of Information) that the impressions he got in Germany were appalling. “ Two-thirds of the population knew, or pretended to know, nothing,” he declares. “ The remaining third was a prey to defeatism and despair. I cannot say,” he continues, “ that food was actually short, but I was astonished to see a complete breakdown of the Government machine. “ Thus, in Vienna, a city of 2,000,000 inhabitants, no police were to be seen. The Austrian police had been dissolved, and nobody appointed in their place. All around me I heard nothing but complaints about the Nazi tyranny, and fears for the future. It is true that Austria presents a special case, but when travelling through purely German provinces the tone of the conversation was the same. “ What a relief it was to get back to France! I don’t know what the future has in store for us, or what the outcome may be of the catastrophe which has overtaken us. But of one thing I am certain. On the other side of the Rhine I have seen a country ripe for defeat, while here I see a people confident and worthy of victory. “ There can be no mistake. I am well aware of the material resources of Germany, and of the fanaticism which actuates hundreds of thousands of its youn§ men. But folly and lies are self-destructive, and Germany today is a realm of folly and lies. In France I find a quite remarkable comprehension of the situation among all classes and an unshakeable resolution to put an end to this business once and fox- all.”