Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1943-07-16
WNU Service, Union Trust Building
Washington, D. C.

Washington, D. C.
Has Herr Goebbels created a
"maginot mind in his minions
which will crumble and wreck Ger
man morale just as the failure of
the French defense smashed French
morale? That is a question which
the students of propaganda in Wash
ington are studying with great in
terest today.
Both external evidence-newspa-
pers, broadcasts, public statements;
and internal evidence-reports of
spies and neutral observers; reveal
two things: one, that the Axis peo-
pies are extremely invasion-con-
scious; and two, that they are suf-
fering from a severe case of war
nerves. But third more serious
possibility is developing.
AS a result of the "maginot
mind" it is believed that marked
increase in the scope of the air
raids, or even a minor success of a
single invasion unit, might result in
a complete breakdown of Axis mo-
rale. Realizing this, the German
propaganda forces are working fran
tically to change their previous
verbal barrages based on the con-
cept of the Fortress Europa, an ut
terly impregnable defense system,
back to the original German con-
cept of the value and efficiency Of
a highly mobile, offensive force.
Last year, when the second front
talk reached it's height, the German
defense propaganda reached a high
water mark too. Then when inva-
sion weather passed, the German
defense talk died down to be re-
newed this past April. Everything
was done by the Nazis to create the
idea that Europe was ringed by an
unbreachable wall of steel, iron and
concrete. Comparisons were made
with the Maginot line; they said
the guns in the Maginot line could
traverse $50 degrees-in the new
German wall, they can swing around
the whole $50 degrees. They said
that the steel used in the construc-
ton equals bar which would reach
from the earth to the moon-the
concrete would build a road from
Berlin to the Solomon islands.
Those Sir Months
That was the kind of fare the
Germans and the Italians were
served. Immediately after the fall
of Tunisia, for instance, there was
an Axis chorus which tried to sound
exceedingly jubilant when it de-
clared: "Halleluja, we have held
back the enemy successfully for six
months, long enough to complete our
Notifications, it is too late for an
attack on our fortress now!"
In recent weeks, however, with
the growing attacks on German cit
les, the surrender of the Italian is
land fortress to forces utterly in
different to walls of steel or con-
crete, the German propagandists
have begun to realize that they went
too far in building a faith in a wall
that their propaganda is in danger
of back-firing. They realize that if
that concept is held, and if the Al
lies make a landing at any point
and break the wall, the civilian mo-
rale will break with it.
So the tune has suddenly changed.
Now we hear that the shores of the
Mediterranean are protected by a
splendid mobile defense-there is no
south wall to Europe-none is need
ed. The European continent under
German dominance is ideally
equipped, far better equipped for
offense against any invader who
might get a foothold than the in
vader could possibly be; the diff
Guilty of the Allied transportation
across water is stressed, the power
of the submarine is emphasized.
But this about-face, according to
observers here, has come pretty late
and can hardly create much con-
fidence on the part of nation which
has had the myth of the Fortress
Europa pounded into it for over
year.
About the LuftUafe
There is another factor, of course,
which is working against enemy mo-
rale; that is, the fact that the hard
est blows now struck come from
the cir with the weapon which Italy
exalted and which Hitler forged and
put into effect in the form of his
one-time invincible Luftwaffe.
Meanwhile, what has happened to
the which some people
have called the vanished" Luft-
waite?