Evening star., 1942-07-17
Hitler and Generals
Held at Variance
Writer Reports Differences
Between Fuehrer and Soldiers
Concerning MiIitory Policy

SOMEWHERE IN EUROPE, July 10
The British humorist, P. G.. Wodehouse,
once wrote, "Murderers will tell you the
difficulty always is to get rid of the
corpse"
The military attache at the Berlin
Embassy Of neutral power in giving his
opinion recently on how the war would
end cited this quotation from Mr.. Wode-
house and said, That's exactly the
problem of the German generals with
respect to Adolf Hitler"
Although Hitler nominally still is SUI
preme commander of the Wehrmacht,
actually the military control again is in
the hands of soldiers Hitler still re-
mains political chief and fuehrer of the
| National Socialist party, but otherwise
relations between Hitler and his generals
are, at best, on a basis of mutual cautious
liberation by tacit agreement that each
side will mind its own business. Today
the generals do not count on any OBJ
structive opposition from Hitler as they
| push Germany's supreme final offensive
How this breach between Hitler and
| the generals arose is best explained by a
| few we'll authenticated facts. These
| facts are all we'll known in the diplo-
matte world, but owing to the perpetual
upheaval since the outbreak of war most
of them have been forgotten. Considered
IN succession, however, they show how
Hltler's hold on the Wehrmacht has
slipped
One night shortly before midnight a
few weeks before Germany invaded
Poland group of German newspaper
men were idling in the Feuerwache, a
celebrated Berlin cafe near the Kaiser
hof, Wilhelmstrasse and Reichs- Chan
cellory when 1t Bruckner, Hitler's
chauffeur and bodyguard and popularly
known as "the Fuehrer's Shadow" burst
excitedly into the gathering exclaiming,
That can't end well! That means GER
tain catastrophe!"
After couple of beers, the newspaper
men finally calmed Bruckner down and
asked him what was troubling him. He
described the first serious quarrel be-
tween Hitler and Reichsmarshal Her.
mann Goering. Hitler, assuming his
favorite role as an infallible prophet.
had expounded to few of the highest
Nazls his plan to destroy Poland.
Goerlng, in his usual clustering way, put
Hitler into a towering rage by con-
demnlng the whole plan on the spot.
Goerlng admitted that Poland itself
could easily be annihilated but he in
sisted that Hitler would find that this
would not end MS adventure but in
stead would prove only the beginning
OF an ever-spreading conflict, with Ger
many, having to face stronger and
stronger foes as the war spread. Hitler
remained adamant but Goerings hu-
mutation ranked and poisoned the
relationship between the two men as
subsequent events proved over and over
again that Goering was right.
Bruckner's story, of course, could not
be published at the time and no word
was permitted to leak out of Germany
ABOUT the Hitler-Goering quarrel. Hit
ler's chauffeur bodyguard rose to the
rank OF colonel but disappeared long
ago, so the story can now be told.
The next clash between Hitler and
his chief aide came after the fall of
INVASION OF Britain before the Royal Air
Force could develop strength. The
LuttWaffe chief emphasized that Ger
man aircraft output based on mass pro-
duction installed in 1898 would be
forced to adhere to those prototvpes
because the fury of the war would pre-
vent Germany from making any sub
stantial changes in standard models
whereas, If the British were given time.
they would start mass production with
improved models and thus achieve
permanent mechanical superiority over
Germany, particularly because they
would be able to design planes for use
With gasoline Of a far higher octane
content than those available in the
Reich. Hitler again overruled Goering
processing to fear that once he was en-
tangled with Britain, the Russians
would attack in the rear.
In April, 1941, Hitler announced his
plan to smash Russia as preliminary
to an invasion of England He said the
Russian Army could be crushed in 12
weeks. Goering again opposed the plan,
saying: I'VE might indeed annihilate the
Bolsheviks, but it would cost us our Luft-
waite, after which we should fall prey
to the RAF in the west"
At that time Goering could not have
foreseen that the RAF would be REIN
forced immensely by American air squad
rons, development which made his
prognosis truer than ever The recent
large-scale British air attacks against
Germany-particularly those against Co.
logne and Essen-proved that Goering
again was right.
Developments since the war began
have shown incontestably that military
supremacy today depends primarily on
air strength. That is why German mill
tary chiefs reproach Hitler so vehemently
for having consistently ignored the warn
ings of his own Luftwaffe chief Goering,
Invariably with disastrous consequences.
AS Goering foresaw, Germany has lost |
so many aircraft on the eastern front |
that today she is unable to supply all |
fighting fronts simultaneously with |
eno,,ob y,,orIipoc