Evening star., 1943-08-10
Germans Already Seen
Preparing New War

Yesterday | wrote about the reports
that the generals are taking over. or
have taken over, power in Germany.
In the past "a hours those reports con-
tinue and have become more definite
If they are true, it is vitally important
that We should understand why this is
happening. 1t is above all else important
that we should understand the intent
of those who are bringing these changes
about.
They are already thinking in terms of
a comeback. Their frame of mind is
precisely that of the professional Grim
inal who, after a series of successful
robberies, finds himself at last sur
rounded by the police who are closing in
| upon him, and whose thoughts at once
turn to getting off as lightly as possible,
and to the new and bigger and more
successful career of crime upon which
he intends to embark as soon as he gets
out of Jail.
The German leaders, whether political
or military, know that for the time being,
at least, the game is up. They have lost.
| and their own force is diminishing. Even
| the neutrals are turning against them.
Their allies are wavering, will soon begin
to fall away.
Their second attempt to gain the
domina ton of the world, that manifest
destiny" in which they so firmly believe,
has failed. But let us not suppose for
a moment that they have ceased to be-
lieve in it, or do not intend to try again.
Their object now is to save something
some remnant of power or at least some
remnant of prestige with their own
people, from the debacle,
They are confronted with a demand
for unconditional surrender. If they
yield to that demand now, not only will
they be discredited, but Germany will
have such a blood bath as has not been
known in that country since the Thirty
Years War. The insulted and injured
will have their revenge.
In that process, it will be very likely
that all the fight will be taken out of
those Germans who survive, and that
for generations to come German parents
will hand down to their children an
abiding fear of war and an abiding
hatred for those who would lead them
to war So for the present, the war
must go on.
| 1t must, of course be a defensive war.
| A defensive war, If skillfully waged, re-
| quires military leadership of a very high
| order. 1t necessitates subordinating
| everything else to the demands of mill
| tary necessity. 1t means that if the
military situation requires territory to be
| given up, requires a withdrawal here in
| order to maintain the front there 1t
shall be done without any consideration
to political arrangements or to such mat
| ters as the Fuehrer's prestige or the
| legend Of Nazi infallibility.
Hence it may be necessary to put some
| of the Nazi leaders, even the Fuehrer
| himself, into the background; or to de-
| prive them, at least, of any power to
control such decisions. At the proper
moment, it might even require that there
should be a carefully engineered 'popu-
lar uprising" against Naziism with fatal
| results to some of the more prominent
| party leaders.
But we should not suppose that this
defensive war will be a purely military
affair. Not at all. 1t will. like all wars,
have its political objective. That polit-
ical objective will, at every turn of the
war, be sought by every means possible.
1t will be to save something out of
the wreck.
1t will be to make peace on any terms
which will leave the present leaders Of
Germany or those who think of Ger
many's future in like terms, with some
chance of making a comeback when
Germany has recovered her strength
and when Germany's enemies have for
gotten and relaxed.
This war was begun by the Germans
in the full conviction that this time
they would make none of the errors Of
l914-1918. The next war will be begun by
the Germans in the conviction that they
can avoid the errors of both the present
and the last war; that this time they
will get away with it. That is how the
criminal mind always works. Otherwise
there would never be such a thing as
an habitual criminal.
The whole Idea of the defensive war
Is to make the subjection of Germany
cost us so dearly that there will come a
| point at which the United Nations will
| modify, to greater or a less extent,
their demand for unconditional sur
| render. Anything at all that can be
| gained is net gain. Even the gain in
| surrendering to organized Allied forces
| at the borders of Germany is gain
over surrendering now and being mas
sacred by the uncontrolled but justified
| fury Of the Poles, Czechs, French and
all the other cruelty victimized neighbors
of Germany.
The material destruction which must
come with prolonged war does not
| count; it can be rebuilt. What counts
is the keeping alive OF that evil spirit
which the German leaders regard as
their sacred fire: The spirit that will
some day enable them or their success
sors to build up a new legend and set
| forth once more on career Of conquest.
| AS long as we understand all this. we
| shall not be deceived. Our course is
| plain before us. No compromise, no
negotiation, but the application of force
| In increasing measure, without ceasing.
| until Germany surrenders uncondition-
| ally and until there is no doubt left in
! any German mind that 1t will not nav
to try 1t again. and that any one who in