The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-01-30

1t IS the True WeaklluBS WHO
who would have said at that time
that Russia had Ave times as many
tanks and 10 times as many planes.
'sThey said that war with Russia
would be too dangerous. Many
prominent people In Germany would
have liked to bury their heads in
the sand. Thus our fuehrer was
confronted with the most dtff1cult
decision Of his life, and greatest
decision In point Of historical i'm
portance ever made.
"Eze knew, he not only had q sts-
picion, that this would be the hard
est Of our struggles. And Just be.
cause he knew Russia had such tre-
mendous ornaments, with hundreds
Of planes already maSsed at the
frontier, he made that decision
which was to settle the life or death
of the west.
"Tt was q glorious decision to
stand up against this wave Of blood
which would have destroyed not only
Germany but the entire west.
History will always have to adj
NIT that June %, 1941 (when Ger
many attacked Russia) was the day
of the most tremendous, most sig
niflcant historically, most daring
and most admirable decision ever
made by one strong soul.
zone victory followed another. One
army of the enemy after the other
was destroyed. With these victories,
the difficulties Of growing distances
and supplies increased. Then came
fate, and made the supreme test for
our victorious people. Fate did not
want us to get the final decision
easily. For the first time, fate called
q halt to our victorious armies. The
icy Russia winter blocked us.
"Sone commanders were weak.
But again 1t was the Fuehrer who
held the east front in spite Of any
weakling, and when the world
thought the German armed forces
had been vanquished Hitler initiat-
ed O new tremendous thrust last
summer which again won one bat
tie after another. Nobody, would
have thought such an offensive pos
sible after the last winter. That Of
fensive penetrated deeply into
space and deprived the enemy of
irreplacable ornaments.
"Then came the day when Our
tanks for the first time penetrated
the fortress Of Stalingrad. Then
came the second Russian winter. We
had O tremendous arc Of front
which needed every last man to
hold. Although the winter was not
quite as hard as the one preceding,
1t was still icy enough.
"Where o few companies were
sufflcient previously to hold terri
tory protected by large lakes or
swamps now more were needed bee
cause all this became Ice and
enemy would be able to cross.
Enemy Is Hard
"This enemy Is hard. In its lead
ership 1t is barbarically hard.
The execution Of command Is de-
manded in a form which means
death If not carried out. That wal
nothing new to the Russian. A Rus
sian commissar would indicate on
the map where a railroad had been
destroyed by us and within o few
hours everybody. civilians, old men
women, children would have to re.
port for work. The coinmissar did
not care who. He used the whip
Yes, If one dominates q nation like
that one faces a difficult enemy.
1.-THE Russians recognized that
their ornaments production could
no longer be kept up. They had lost
O big proportion Of their coal and
iron. For this reason another 81
gantic effort Is being made for the
last time to reconquer the coal and
iron deposits. But no longer men,
but fatigued oldsters and 16 year
olds are recruited and behind them
the number Of machine guns Is
quadrupled and so they are chased
to their death.
I'VE now have picture Of Rus
sian losses which will be announced
at the proper moment. One gets O
creeping feeling down ones back
when one reads those figures. But
the Russians continued, under.
ncurished, badly dressed. Working
days Of 10 IL and IL hours NEAR
nothing to the Russian command
(The German day Is IL hours).
'They don't care whether a mar
finally keels over. The pistol anc
the whip keep everybody In line.
I'VE know, however, that German
fighter can resist in Russia and ha
done so. Few nations could resis
such an enemy. No other nation II
Europe, with due respect for oul
Allies, Is able to destroy Russia anC
break Bolshevism. We are grea
and strong and know how to fight
The Firms are brave and specially
trained to fight Russia. For oul
other Allies this fight is doubly
hard. They are far away from theil
homes, not used to that climate.
1.-THE Russian used every last op-
portunity. But am convinced thai
this is his last effort. His last rel
serve is squeezed out. Only because
the Russian has lost his esteem fol
human life, is he using 1t barbar-
ically to reach his goals. Russian
leadership is utterly brutal. Still
we have beaten them so far and We
shall beat them again. Russia now
tries to recover its raw material re-
sources.
1T is true that the harshness Of
the struggle has grown to gigantic
proportions, Germany holds front
from the North Cape of Norway To
the Bay OF Biscay and the Desert
of Africa.
Germany fights. bleeds. but wins
And out of all these gigantic
struggles looms like a tremendous
monument the struggle for Stain
grad. This will some time be con-
sidered the most heroic struggle OF
history.
Nazis Must Win
From general to last private,
those now fighting there in Stalin-
grad against superior strength,
fighting for every stone, are the
components Of q great heroic song,
like that Of the Niebeungen who
fought to the last and such q flght