Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-07-25

what Is happening to the German ar
mics? These questions today are on the
lips Of all military observers.
Unless there is some uncanny military
plan the depth of which we have not been
able to fathom, it is reasonable to as
sumo from available information that the
Reich may take the road the old German
Empire took in 1918.
Hard-boiled realistic military men, who
since we entered the war have never
adopted misunderstanding attitude, be-
lieve now that if there Is some real close
pulling together among all the Allies,
those who made rash statements in the
past might carry the day and the COL
lapse of Nazidom might be closer than
we imagine.
For the first time since the outbreak
of the war responsible military men are
willing to admit that while on paper
there still is d tremendous amount of
fight left in the Germans. internal con-
ditions and further sacrifices of human
lives might create condition which
will get the Reich out of the war.
llCIc dIc lIl6llN llS AL llllS tSJlllldl S
of the general situation. But there is
an outside possibility that we will wit
ness the final collapse of Naziism.
While the German armies were OBJ
tanning spectacular military successes on
the battlefields of Europe we could not
see the woods for the trees But close
examinat ton of the entire German STRAIT
egg since 1910 makes us realize that
there must have been something thor
oughly wrong with the Nazi setup. 1t
may have been the system; it may have
been Hitler and his yes men; 1t may
have been the German general staff
itself.
Nazis Miss Chance.
The NaZis introduced the blitz in 1899
when they opened the campaign against
Poland. 1t worked wonders mostly be-
cause their opponents were totally un-
prepared for war.
France fell; it had been betrayed from
within and had been luled into feeling
of security which permitted the poll
ticians to play with her national defense.
According to cur observers, Germany
could then have won the war But she
did not. There was practically nothing
In Britain to oppose Nazi landing had
the high command decided to invade
England and pay the price for it.
The heart Of the people of the United
Kingdom was in the right place; they
would have fought desperately. The
navy would have sacrificed to the last
man in order to inf1ict severe losses on
the enemy. But by paying the price of
about 100000 casualties or more Britain
could have been overrun She had no
equipment-this can now be said-to
fight for long time against Hitler S
powerful military machine.
But even if the Nazi high command
did not want 20 lose so many men, the
strategy of air bombardments came
mighty close 10 bringing Britain to her
knees. 1t can be revealed that the bonn
bardments which were destroying Brit
aims cities, and particularly her ports,
made deep Impression on the popula-
ton. Between December, 1910, and April,
l941, there were only a few ports on
Britain,s western coast capable of han
ding the supply ships coming from this
country.
Several more weeks of intense attacks
might have forced the Churchill govern
ment out of Office and Britain might have
accepted peace terms.
Nazis' Two BIunders.
For reasons which have not yet been
fully explained the Nazis stopped their
air commandments just a few weeks be-
fore they might have achieved their pur-
pose. 1t may be that the losses had
unnerved Hermann Goering. History will
tell us the full story some day
The attack on Russia in June, l941, is
considered by most strategists as blum
der due mostly to faulty information of
the German intelligence services which
underestimate the Russian strength,
But it was less of jor blunder than
the cessation of the attacks on England.
Hitler suspected Russia's intentions in
the postwar period and wanted to get
rid of that potential enemy before he
could turn his fire on Britain again.
According to our military observers, the
Russian campaign was we'll executed but
i'll conceived. The German military ma
chine began 20 crack, but this was not
obvious to the observers until the sum-
mer of 1912 when the Nazis, under the