Evening star., 1941-07-09
RiyoI War Propugondos

| -
One of the curious aspects of the
! RusSO-German war is the obviously
exaggerated military claims put for
ward by both sides. This is not con-
/ fined to Semi-official news agencies
and human interest" stories from
! the front, which are notoriouSly
| prOpagandiSt in character. Propa-
/ gandizing is almost equally evident
in the army communicates. On the
German side. this is unprecedented
because hitherto the official state
mentS of the German high COM
mand had won a reputation for
moderation and accuracy. Now it
has been learned that Hitler himself
takes a hand in their composition.
And it is easy to imagine what that
implies.
Russian reports traditionally have
shown a strong tendency toward an
Oriental eXuberance. That was Ger
tainly true during the war with
Japan and the World War. The
Soviet high command is living
up to tradition when it estimates
German losses at 10000 per day and
asserts that the total approximateS
100000 This would be at least
40 per cent of the entire German
Army assumed to be engaged in the
invasion Of Russia, and military
authorities are agreed that no army
could stand such losses without los
ing its effective fighting power.
The German propa ganda tech
nique, while slightly less crude, is
almost equally unconvincing The
first blatant eXaggeration perpe-
trated by the high command was it's
claim to have destroyed more than
1000 Russian planes in the first week
of the campaign. That was ap-
proXimately the total number Of
first-line planes which the Russians
could conceivably have concentrated
on their Western front, the logical
inference being that the Russian air.
force had been practically ami
hilated. But later German reports
admit a degree of Russian air
activity which shows that the Rus
sian air arm still exists as a fight
ing force. Similar doubt is cast upon
German claims to the capture OF
100000 prisoners and the infliction
of casualties several times as great.
BY taking the claims of both sides
at their face value, there is presented
the hypothesis of such mutual de-
Struction that the armies themselves
will disappear and only the general
stats will be left to carry on the
struggle!
What are the reasons behind
these Self-evident eXaggerationS? 1t
can hardly be an attempt to deceive
the outer world, because wherever
thought is uncensored the most ele-
mentary analysis will expose the mu-
tual falSity of such claims. The only
alternative would seem to be the
need of bolstering home morale.
The Soviet high command prob
ably has the easier task. For al
most a quarter-c century, the Russian
people have been fed on a Solidly
propagandist diet and have been so
insulated from outside information
that their critical faculty must be
atrophied. Besides, Russians tend to
think in round numbers, and large
totals do not instinctively arouse in
tellectual mistrust.
The German people, however, are
better educated and informed. Per-
hapS Hitler is here putting into prac-
tice his theory that the bigger the
lie, the easier it will be believed. Also,
Germans remember the colossal vic
tory of Tannenberg early in the last
war, when whole Russian army was
destroyed. Hitler therefore may have
felt that he must better that record
at the start-at least, on paper.
Most Germans doubtless realize that
the stroke against Russia is a su-
preme gamble, with almost certain
defeat in the entire war as the pen
atty for failure. German popular
morale may be going through crisis
that badly needs bolstering. And
Hitler is meeting that need even at
the expense of truth-Which is for
him a minor matter.