Evening star., 1939-10-06
Criticizes England S
Desire 10 Dictate
Conduct Of Reich
AssuiIs Versailles
Treaty and League
Of Motions Clique
Continued From First Page.)

que 10 unelr prOWeSS IN arms, but
only to our cool thinking and our
sense of responsibility.
forbade the sacrifice of more
human lives than was absolutely
necessary. That is to say, I de-
liberately released the German su-
preme command from adherence
to a principle still observed in the
great war demanding that for the
sake of prestige certain objectives
must under all circumstances be
reached withing certain time limit.
Everything which it is imperative
to do will be done regardless of
sacrifice, but what can be avoided
will not be done.
Hoped Poland Might
Be Guided by Common Sense.
There would have been no diff
Guilty for us in breaking the re-
sistance of Warsaw between the 10th
and 18th of September, just as we
finally broke it September 1927,
only that in the first place wanted
to spare German lives and in the
second place I still clung to the
hope. misdirected though it was, that
the Polish side might for once be
guided by responsible common sense
instead of by irresponsible lunacy.
But in this instance we were once
more confronted with the spectacle
which We had witnessed before on
the largest possible scale.
The attempt to convince the re-
sponsible Polish command-insofar
as it eXisted-that it was futile and
in fact insane to attempt resistance,
especially in city of more than
q million inhabitants, proved en-
tirely fruitless. A "generalissimo"
who himself took to inglorious flight
forced upon the capital of his coun-
try resistance which could never
lead to anything but its destruction.
Since it was realized that Warsaw S
Notifications alone were not likely
to withstand the German attack, the
entire city was converted into fort
ress and barricaded in every direc-
ton. Batteries were mounted in
every square and courtyard. thou
sands of machine gun posts were
manned and the whole population
called up to take part in the fighting.
Acted to Protect
Civilians in Warsaw.
Sheer sympathy for women and
children caused me to make an offer
to those in command of Warsaw at
least to let civilian inhabitants leave
the city. I declared a temporary
armistice and safeguards necessary
for evacuation, with the result that
we all waited for emissaries just as
fruitlessly as we had waited at the
end of August for Polish negotia-
tor. The proud Polish commander of
the city did not even condescend to
reply.
To make sure I extended the time
limit and ordered bombers and
heavy artillery to attack only mill
tary objectives, repeating my pro-
posal in vain. thereupon made an
offer that the whole suburb OF
Praga would not be bombarded at all,
but should be reserved for the civil
ian population in order to make it
possible for them to take refuge
there.
This proposal, too, was treated with
contempt on the part of the Poles.
Twice I attempted to evacuate at
least the international colony from
the city. In this I finally succeeded
after great difficulties, in the case
of the Russian colony, actually at
the last moment. I then ordered a
general attack on the city for Sep
tember 25.
Polish High Command
Described as Inefficient.
The same defenders who at first
considered it beneath their dignity
even to reply to my humane pro-
. posals made on grounds of humanity
then very rapidly changed face.
The German attack opened on Sep
tember 25, and Warsaw capitulated
on the 9th.
With 10000 men the defenders
did not even attempt to break
through as our German Gen. Litz-
mann once did at Brzesiny with a
vastly inferior force-but, on the
contrary. preferred to lay down
arms. Any comparison with the
Alcazar is entirely out of place.
There for weeks on end Spanish
heroes defied the bitterest attacks
and earned right to lasting fame
Here, on the other hand, a great
city was unscrupulously exposed to
destruction, only to capitulate after
q 48-hour assault
The Polish soldiers as individuals
fought bravely on many occasions,
but their officers, beginning with
the command, can only be described
as irresponsible, unconScientious
and inefficient. Before the lombard
nent of Hela l had also given Or
ders that not a single man should
be sacrificed until the most careful
preparation for action had been
made. There, too, surrender came
at the very moment when the Ger
mans had at length announced their
Intention of attacking and had be-
gun to do so.
1 have made these statements,
gentlemen, with the object of fore
stalling the invention of historical
legends for if legend is to be woven
around any who took part in this
campaign. it should be woven around
German soldiers who, during the at
tack and on the march, added vet
another page to their immortal
glorious record
Artillery and Mechanized
Forces Worthy Of Legend.
Legends could be woven, too.
around the heavy artillery which
performed untold feats of endur-
ance in rushing to the assistance of
the infantry. Men of our armored
mechanized units who, with daunt-
less courage and needless of counter
attacks and numerical superiority
OF the enemy. attacked again and
again are worthy of this legend.
Such a legend should also immor-
talize the airmen who. fearless of
death and knowing that if anti