Evening star., 1941-01-12
JCI Il
"A. P. Wirephoto.

party might be able to agree
among themselves on a compromise
"fuehrer," man who was MOI
strong enough or able enough tc
rule the Reich in his own right, but
behind whom the warning leaders
and factions could range themselves
in order to maintain at least SEM
blance of outward unity and main
tain themselves in power.
Hess Would Have Edge.
If this should happen, the COM
promise candidate would probably
be Rudolf Hess, now deputy leader
of the party.
Hess has the advantage of being
HitlerS own designee as second in
the line of succession to rule, he
shares with DR.. Robert Ley the con-
troll of the party machine, he i;
liked and respected by the people
as few other leading Nazis coulo
ever hope to be, and he has fewer
powerful and bitter enemies within
the party than most Nazis of i'm
portance do.
How long such compromise So
luton of the problem of succession
would last is anybody's guess. 1,
would probably last for some time
barring military or other catastro.
phies, but it would tend from the
start to break up of its own innel
conflicts and contradictions.
1t is extremely difficult to see hov
any other man or group of mel
could take over Germany and rul
it under anything like present cir
cumstances
No Army Rule Likely.
Least of all can any effectiv
political initiative be expected from
the generals. The officer corps prob
ably would be able to step in an,
take over Germany if the Nazi
should be destroyed by some othe
means, but it will not undertake an,
serious action to destroy the Nazi
itself.
In the first place, the loyalty o.
most of the generals to the regime
is adequate, even if not wildly
enthusiastic. But even apart from
that. the generals are completely
dominated by Hitler and the party
They do what they are told, they de
exactly as they are told, whether
they believe in it or not.
Even in military matters the gen
erals defer to Hitler and the party
The Germans were afraid of the
big offensive on the western from
in May, for example. If the de.
cision had been left to them as tt
whether the offensive would bt
undertaken or not, it probably never
would have been tried. But Hitler
told them to do it and they did it
Rape of Poland.
Again, the rape of Poland is beins
carried out by the party in op-
position to the wishes of most Of
the generals who know what is
going on in Poland-and most Of
them do not-and in spite of the
fact that Poland is occupied enemy
territory and therefore entitled
to definite rights which the armed
forces are responsible for enforcing
Even in tactical matters, Hitler
casts the deciding vote. He has his
own personal general staff" indie.
pendent of the regular high com.
mand and general staff, he work.
out his own plans with this per-
sonal staff and he uses these plan:
of his own to check and often tc
override the plans worked out by
the regular officers in charge OF
these tasks.
Hitler's own staff is headed by
Gems. Jodel and Warlimont Of
whom most of the world never
heard, but who, as Hitler's most
trusted military advisers, are vastly
more important than men like Will
helm Won Keitel, chief of the high
command of the armed forces: Wal
ter Won Brauchitsch, commander In
chief of the army, and Grand Ad-
miral Erich Raeder, chief of the
navv
Advisers Don't Know His Plans.
Even men like these often don't
know what Hitler's military plans
are until the last possible moment.
Hitler had created a system for
keeping secrets which is as fantastic
as an opium dream and he uses it
on his own closest advisers as we'll
as on the outside world.
Officers of the rank of major gen.
eral are often kept busy at work
for months on end preparing plans
which Hitler has no intention what
ever Of ever using, simply because
telling the men he was not going
to use those particular plans would
make it easier for them to figure
out what plans he was going to
use instead.
Among the men around Hitler
there are only five whose advice
Hitler will even listen to with any
degree of regularity. These five are
Goering, Joachim Won Ribbentrop,
the foreign minister, Heinrich
Himmler. Reich S. S. and police
chief; Robert Ley, head of the
Labor Front and DR.. Joseph 0oeb-
bels, the propaganda minister.
The Others in Groups.
The other men around Hitler fall
into three categories.
First, there are expert technicians
like DR.. Fritz Todt, superintendent
| Of Reich highways, builder Of the