Evening star., 1941-08-09
Unconditional Truth

With a flourish of trumpets sug-
gestive of a GoebbelS propaganda
broadcast rather than the usual
reserved announcements of the Ger
man high command, the people OF
Germany learned by radio Wednes-
day the belated but unconditional
truth" about the battle of Russia.
That the men and women behind
the lines were beginning to be wor-
ried about the meagerneSs of official
information from the far-flung front
and were demanding facts may be
cleaned from reported Introductory
remarks of the announcer. He con-
ceded that German citizens had
"misinterpreted" the reticence Of the
high command. Silence had been
necessary, he explained, because the
Germans did not wish to let Moscow
know how bad things were going for
the isolated Russian armies. Now,
however, the situation was so we'll in
hand that it was possible to grant
the justified desire" of the folks
back home to know how the war was
Progressing, day by day.
The announcer then proceeded to
read a series of reports issued by
Adolf Hitler's headquarters, covering
six weeks of alleged achievements
by the Nazi forces in the sew
eral sectors. from the Baltic to the
Balkans. These reports were not
couched in the usual laconic phrases
of the German high command, how
ever. These extraordinary reports
were embroidered with such Hitler
esque terms as "audacious onslaught"
of German tank units, shoulder to
shoulder" comradeship of Hungar-
ians, Slovaks and Germans, hero
ism of the German soldier" exceed
ingly bloody losses of the enemy"
Significantly, there were repeated
references, almost apologetic in
tenor, to the difficult terrain and
weather conditions" "bitter resist
ance" of this stout opponent" and
even to the thoroughly equipped
Soviet forces."'
And there we're claims of huge
losses inflicted on the enemy since
June 22-of 895,O00 prisoners taken,
13,145 tanks destroyed, 1888 pieces
of artillery captured or destroyed
and of 9,082 planes downed. The
number of Russians killed or wounded
was said officially in Berlin to be
many times" the total of prisoners
taken. The official German news
agency, DN.B., supplemented the
communique with it's own estimates
of 100000 Russians killed, which
would make the grand total of Soviet
casualties, excluding wounded, nearly
100000 men. In weighing the
accuracy of these estimates, it is
interesting to note that the ratio of
wounded to dead in the World War
and in previous campaigns of this
Wal Wdo I'LL &C w OllC IL Ull1o ldVlo
is applied to the Nazi figures, there
would be 100000 wounded Russians.
Thus the total of Russian casualties
would be about 100000. Moscow,
calling these figures fairy tales"
declares actual Russian losses, in
cluding dead, wounded and missing,
do not exceed 100000 The truth no
doubt lies somewhere between the
conflicting estimates.
1t is also interesting to note that
the communique is silent on German
losses. This dramatic announcement
palpably was seasoned with propa-
ganda for home consumption. When
the unconditional truth" about the
epochal Russian war really becomes
known to the German people, it is
possible they will suffer a shock that
will tax all the skill and resources
of the propaganda ministry to
aSSuage.