Evening star., 1942-04-19
HitIer's Zero Hour
For Big 1912 Gamble
Declared Set Back
Deorth OF Mon Power and
Uneasy Morale at Home
Cited in London
~ thf Asanristed Prsss.

~ tho Associated Press.
LONDON. April is-The zero
hour for Adolf Hitler's big le42 gam
bic has been set back by dearth
Of man power. uneasy home morale.
friction within the Axis and the
combined resistance Of Russian men
and Russian mud, a responsible for
eign informant with wide diplo-
matte connections said today
Hitler is hate" said this inform
ant. He gave this outline TO sup
port his conclusion:
Information both from Germany
and the rest of the continent shows
that Hitler Is feeling real pinch
in man power
First Of all he had to use 40 70 50
divisions of his reserve force TO
stem the Russian winter counteroi-
fenSive. Second. today's informant
said, I'VE know from prisoners taken
in Russia recently that the Ger
man replacemcnts are mainly boys
of II and 18 or elderly men, snd
We know they are not satisfactory"
Reserves Put at l.OOO,VO0.
Reports from Polish quarters
were said 10 indicate that this re-
serve army-which Hitler by spring
had expected TO total ! 500 ,000-now
will not exceed 100000.
The German general staff has
been calling more and more on the
occupying troops in France and the
low countries for service in Rus
sia. and has been seeking TO replace
these men by semi-casualties and
others unfit for front-lone fighting.
Prisoners from these western garri-
sons already have been taken in
some quantity in Russia.
At the same time the Nazis, in
creasingly worried about Allied con-
tinental invasion, are frantically
seeking to reinforce coastal defenses
on the west. Only today Belgian
reports told Of Nezi minelaying in
fields between the rivers Sambre
and Meuse, at five or more points.
On the German home front, to-
days informant said the most re-
liable contacts reported that Hitler
is engaged in drafting special
speech for his birthday Monday to
bolster morale. In 1t he Is expected
to appeal to the people to forego
festivities in his honor and to give
him instead a steady and complete
effort for victory in 1912.
Morale Held Sinking.
This appeal is said to take into
consideration a report from Propa-
ganda Minister Goebels to the effect
that German morale, which rose
with Japan's initial successes, Is
sinking again because of:
/. A cut In German rations, con-
trary to promises.
2. Realization OF the magnitude
OF the loss of German life IN Russia.
8. Taking of boys and elderly men
from factories into the army, which
Is affecting business and industry
seriously.
4. Severe British air raids against
Northern and Western Germany,
and uneasiness lest this be a soft
ening" process preceding Allied in
vasion.
Besides the recent friction in the
Balkans which hampered Hitler's
plans and deprived him OF the
troops which he expected from the
Southeastern Europe satellites, 1t is
now reported here that there is dis
agreement and conflict between the
italian commander in chief in North
Africa and Nayi Marshal Erwin
Rommel.' commander Of Hitler's
Afriks Korps.
The italian. Gen. Ettore Bastico,
Is said to mistrust the free use by
Marshal Rommel Of Italian troops.
Thaw Hurts Airfields.
In the Russian theater hastily
built German bridges and hastily
prepared airfields have been made
useless by the floods Of the Soviet
thaw, todays informant continued.
The Germans now appear TO be
concentrating in the main in the
Taganrog -Crimea region, and their
dispositions indicate their main ef-
fort will be toward the Caucasus,
NltIl CuIItldtcu tltdlhs III tiiC Lcll-
ingrad and Murmansk areas and
perhaps a diversionary assault in
Africa.
Had 1t not been for the delaying
factors, the London informant said,
the German armored divisions would
have been moving long ago in Rus
sia to break the stalemate. and the
Axis 10000 men in Libya would
have been advancing in earnest
weeks earlier.
Now, he said, "I think Russia has
got the stuff and is getting the stuff
to stand whatever Germany does"
A supplement to the midnight
communique of the Soviet Informa-
ton Bureau, Illustrating the steady
drain on German man power. said
500 German officers and men were
killed In two days of fighting on
the Leningrad front and in the
last few days $3.50 German officers
and men were killed on the Kalinin
front. The communique said there
were no important changes on the
front.
hmm