Evening star., 1943-03-14
Nazis Worry
Know New Front Must
Be Opened Soon
Continued From Page BID

Continued From Page B-l)
basis Of reports OF vast network Of
spies are said to have come to the con-
clusion that President Roosevelt, having
made a solemn pledge to attack Europe
this year, will carry out his promise, come
hell or high water.
Americans Kept Word.
Our principal stock in trade IN the
world is our intrinsic honesty in dealing
with foreign nations. The American
Government has kept its word every time
it has promised to do something, regard
less of cost. The nations of Europe and
Asia have grown accustomed to believ-
ing that every time the American Gov
ernment has gone on record promising
to do something. that this thing was
DONE if at all possible.
The accusation heard after the last
war that we did not stick to President
Wilson's IA points was propaganda. The
Senate had never adopted the IA points
as the official policies of this country
Moreover, had our partners in the last
war stuck to the principles and the letter
of the IA points, there is no question that
the Senate would have found no objection
to accepting the peace treaties made in
1919. The failure of our associates to live
up to Mr.. Wilson's lofty ideals and the
emasculation of those principles for the
sake of power politics turned the Ameri-
can people away from Europe into
temporary isolationism.
Americas Word Accepted.
All the same the people Of Europe-and
by that is meant the masses-beleve that
Americas word is as good as gold
The declarations Of President Roose-
velt and Prime Minister Churchill have
been widely spread throughout Europe
by the American and British propaganda
services. They have had an electrifHng
effect on the peoples who are suffering
under the heavy Nazi boot. For the first
time since 1910 these miserable people
saw real ray of sunshine. This was
felt in Europe in more than one way.
Not only have acts of sabotage been re-
in Germany and Italy some of the war
weary groups which have not been in
sympathy with Hitler and Mussolini have
lifted their heads and begun to move.
Their movements are timid, it is true,
but this is the first time in years that
there has been talk in the two totali-
tartan states of getting rid of their
leaders. Europe now expects an Ameri.
can-British offensive.
This the Nazi high command knows
| as well as we know. 1t also knows that
the failure of President Roosevelt to live
up to his formal pledge would bring about
such wave of despair all over Europe
that all passive resistance to Nazi domi-
nation would cease in short while and
the subjected nations in fit of despair
might accept the new order" in Europe.
Failure to start the offensive in Europe
this year would, In the opinion of many
| observers, be even more fatal than q
setback involving heavy losses.
| Stage Being Set.
Because the Nazi high command real
| ICES the psychological angle of the situa-
ton, it is convinced that the offensive In
| Western Europe cannot be delayed for
more than two or three months And It
is preparing for the invasion with that
thoroughness which has made the Ger
mans formidable opponents.
The new German high command, which
Is composed exclusively Of professional
men who ignore all political and prestige
| considerations, regards the operations in
Russia as of secondary Importance. The
German generals believe they can hold
| the Russians with curtain of troops
not more than so divisions-on the old
| German-Russian borders.
But at the same time they are bringing
| to the European theater OF operations all
| the available troops and aviation to meet
| the America British onslaught they
realize that the fate Of the Reich hangs
| in balance.
Offensive Due Soon.
In the past, not longer than six months
ago, the German troops which were
placed on the ramparts Of Western Eu-
rope were composed Of either older men,
raw soldiers or divisions which were on
leave from the western front and were
in need of rest. There were not more
than four or five good divisions in the
area between Northern Norway and the
! Spanish border.
| But now veterans of the Russian war,
highly trained troops from the pool" In
the Reich, intended originally to fight in
the Soviet, are being rushed to Western
Europe.
The Germans know and so do our
| leaders in Washington and London, that
the grand offensive pledged by our Com
mander in Chief and by the Prime Min
lister of Britain must start within the
next nine months" as Mr. Chruchill
stated before the House of Commons on
February II. A change Of plans, it is
feared here, might be fatal as far as the
war in Europe Is concerned