Evening star., 1943-12-26
Infantry
Continued From Page CID

was far less than the Luftwaffe's great
formations.
At no time, despite the superhuman
efforts of the German Air Force, have
the Russians felt that the battle was
lost. They had millions of men, we'll
trained and well equipped, and pos
sessed frst-class artillery and plenty
of machine guns. They made a wall
which frequently yielded to the ava
lanche of powerfully armed tanks,
Stukas and all types of modern planes.
But the wall never actually broke. To-
day the Russians, in their offensive
against the Germans, count more on
their or S to l superiority in ground
forces than on their air superiority.
The hopes of the people of the United
States and Britain that the war would
end soon were based principally on the
premise that German morale would
break under the uninterrupted strafng
their towns and industrial centers were
receiving from Allied bombers. The
block busters, it was expected, would
wreck not only entire cities but the
morale of German people as we'll.
If We are to believe the various reports
from Germany which come from as re-
liable sources as can be obtained in war
time, the Germans are depressed and
suffering but their morale has not been
seriously affected by the Allied air Of
fensive. Whatever defeatism is notice.
able in the Reich today comes from the
fact that Hitler and his armies are now
on the defensive and there seems to be
no other prospect than fighting a de-
fensive war
The morale of the population is likely
| to deteriorate further if the Nazis con-
tinue to remain on the defensive, but will
improve almost overnight if Hitler and
| his generals succeed in taking the offen-
sive on any of the many European fronts.
| Allied bombers unquestionably have
damaged the German industrial centers.
But the bombardments can hardly be
described as having permanently af-
fected war production. According to re-
liable estimates, Nazi output has suffered
a Is per cent reduction under 1912. In
certain cases 1t has seriously slowed
down the production of certain types Of
war material.
Some military observers say that ono
of the reasons the German resistance on
the Dnieper River was not as effective
as expected was that the German forces
did not have the necessary quantities Of
ammunition. But, according to reports
received in Washington, most of the
damaged factories have either been re-
/ paired after a period of two or three
months or been rebuilt in other parts Of
the Reich
The prospective Allied offensive across
the Channel necessarily must rely ON the
air force in its preliminary stages. The
fiat country In France and the Lowlands
| offers an excellent field In which The
Allied air forces can operate and soften
up the intricate Nazi defensive positions,
Our bombers probably will bs more Of
| fective in destroying the piIlboxes which
have been constructed along the shores
Of France and Belgium than was the
case at Tarawa in the Pacific.
But the American and British STRAIT
egists are counting heavily on q 6-to-i
air superiority only as it revolves around
softening up operations. The actual
victory will have to be won, as in the old
days, by the infantryman and the artil-
leryman, be he on foot or In tank.