Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1943-12-02
NOR THE PUBLIC to be too

:
= optimistic about the prob
able early end of the war in
Europe is not conducive to the
spirit of continuing full effort
ON the home fronts. And yet
\ it is the most natural sequence
of the series of combined set
backs administered to the Nazis
during 1943.
With the general discussion
of the possibility of an early
peace in Europe there arises the
point of unconditional surren-
der" and its implications. Just
what it means
Our Slogan is hard to esti-
Unconditional mate. That the
Surrender confidence in
spired by the
Casablanca declaration by Pres
ident Roosevelt and Prime Min
lister Churchill was fine for
morale in the United Nations
cannot ever be questioned. 1t
showed to Hitler and mis- assoc
iates that they could expect no
quarter in the prosecution of the
war to the end that Nazi-ism
would forever be driven from
the world. From that stand
point the declaration was SUI
premely effective. However,
from the standpoint Of finally
arriving at some method of re-
ceiving peace overtures, it serves
as a deterrent. Hitler, Goeb-
bells, ct al, have been able to use
it in whipping the German peo-
pie into a frenzy regarding loss
of the war. The Nazi leaders
have used the unconditional
surrender" declaration Of De-
mocracy's leaders to spur the
Germans on despite their knowl-
edge Of many disastrous defeats.
1--WE must continue to fight for
victory" they say, because in
defeat the superior race of Ger
mans will become enslaved vic
tins instead of rulers of the
world" Nazi propaganda dwells
on the impossibility of Germany
obtaining anything in defeat,
except death, devastation and
humiliation.
Under present conditions in
Germany this argument offers
Hitler means of justifying his
demand for ever greater and
more determined effort to avoid
defeat. It can easily be noted
that in neutral reports we are
able to get from German sources
the claim Of certain victory for
the Nazis and of utter destruc-
ton Of the democracies is miss
ing. Instead the German people
are being told
Might Be that they must
Delaying accept reverses
lEinal Victory and the disas-
n trous bombings
because it is better to die as
free Germans than to live under
conditions which would be inn
posed after defeat.
One cannot escape the
thought that possibly some new
>nropouncement should be made
Messrs. Roosevelt and
Churchill celebrating on the
unconditional surrender" decla-
ration. No armistice can be
reached without first agreeing to
some general conditions. Not
that these conditions would ap-
proach prolonged negotiations
but that opposition leaders
would have a basis upon which
to lay down arms. Even today
the German people must know
that they cannot win this war.
They must be weary and as
anxious for peace as are the
peoples of other nations. Yet it
is conceivable that they would
prefer to carry on the war under
Hitler with all the suffering and
sacrifices than to submit to the
type of peace which German
propagandists have pictured to
them.
The only Offset to this propa-
ganda is a setting forth Of con-
ditions under which the United
Nations would be willing to
grant an armistice and the dis
tribution of this information
throughout the Greater Reich