Imperial Valley press., 1943-06-03
THEY LOVE A FORTRESS
Jacksonville Register-P Paiaronian)

Jacksonville RegisterPaj jaronian)
With logic that is hard for the outside
world to comprehend, the Nazis now are
placing their main military reliance on
their European Fortress This is very
curious in light of the Way their own
armies in 1910 went through ard around
the MaginOt line
They are proclaiming their coastal de-
fenSe as the greatest building project
since the Pyramids! - They boast "Iwo
hundred kilometerS long in circumference
than the Great Wall of China" They
are publicizing pictures and descriptions
Of some parts of this system, evidently
to help the morale of the Germans in
side
All this will have more effect there
than it does on the calculations of the
Allied higher command. Certainly, as
Leonard lngrams, a BIC commentator,
recently said:
Apart from the gaps in the walls and
the obvious shortcomings of the eastern
and the southern sides, the classical
types of fortreSses seems rather out of
date with Flying Fortresses about-and
HalifaXeS, Lancasters, and Sterlings.
These battlements won't even keep the
NuOSNQlIOGS Oul. Liz Eul OpSoIl 1OI u lSoS
needs roof.
The RAF and the American filters are
daily, hourly, proving that reed Tor 4
roof. Soon, we have no doubt, invasion
forces will storm some of the gaps.
Nevertheless, for the time being, the
defense wall idea undoubtedly does con-
sole many OF the Germans. Their fetish
is fortress; they have favorite saying,
'0ur Cod iS q fortress
There is passage in the journal kept
by Dorothy Wordsworth, the poets sis
ter, on her visit to Hamburg at the end
of the 18th century:
Accustomed to English liberty it
runs, Il was irked by life in a walled
town. While the sun was yet shining
pleasantly. we were obliged to think per-
petually to turn our eyes to the church
clock. Gates are shut at half past six
o'clock, and there is no admittance into
the city after that time. This idea de-
ducts much pleasure from an evening
walk You arr haunted by it long before
the time has elapsed
But the Germans themselves would not
have felt the same about it as Miss
Wordsworth did They would have felt
safer and more comfortable with the
gates shut.
"In times Of peace, even, they see them
selves surrounded by enemies, added
Ingrams. German psychologists call it
their belagerungskomp,eX-their siege
mentality And Hitler made full use OF
this bOgy of encrclement. or einkresung.
to unite the Germans and to bring the
savage in them to the surface. Well now
that bogy's come alive-east and west and
north and south the Germans are indeed
surrounded by their enemies, and it will
take more than Notifications to keep
them safe unless and until they are ready
to surrender unconditionally.
The world is at turning point. | do
not believe we should retreat from our
historic foreign policy of supporting the
indeDend rnce of small nations. 1t is es-
eential that the peace to come have the
ADVANTAGE of the inspiration and ideal
ism of the United States.-Alf LandOn.
America is destined to BE- the leader of
the world. We individuals must see to
it that it has the right leadership. That
is one of your responsibilities as Ameri-
can citizens.-Gcorqe MARKHAM. west
coast restaurateur, World War | Armen-
ian refugee.