The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-09-03

The War
BY KIRKE L. SIMPSON
Associated Press W.. A.,

was fast shriveling into a bon sass'
fight to hold the Reich itself ivy
first week end of 4 fatefnl S ,l'
TENDER in Europe. yep
Utter chaos marked the co.
rout in France. There were crosn ndn
intimations of Nazi retreat ~
from Italy, the Balkan penirs as0
Denmark and Norway, which ro4lt,
mean that everywhere but in sl
east, from the Carpathians to QUE os
Prussia, German and Austrian Vas'
mics were being called back ia 4.
fend their home frontiers NC
And by every sign tie rt>rs.,
order again had come too late
it did at Stalingrad, in Africs az
Sicily and in northern Russia ,na
the lost Baltic states. The INN. M.
walls of Naziom's citadel all th,
is LETT of the boosted Fortress FL,
ope, were quaking, if not alre.s
preached, in the west and runblu,
with symptoms of impending intar s
nal explosions as we'll as actual '.
volt in Slovakia.
Negative Victory
The portentS for Germany
where were so sinister that NJ
radio spokesman hardly sought :,
conceal h e m from home firm,
hearers. They pointed in only m.
direction, due east, to claim moo
alive victory. Between east pms
STA and the Carpathians, thew said
the vast Russian steam roller HAD
ben stenmed.
Whether that was true or mn,
events in Poland seemed ant IA
disclose within the next week, Tn,
mere fact that the claim was mad.
by the Nazis at the very momem
that Allied forces in France wer.
rolling practically unopposed inn
Belgium and to the gates Of Ger.
many itself, is significant.
It will be recalled that in III,
wake of the army effort in Ger,
many that narrowly failed to elm.
mate Hitler and his own top-fligbt
military advisers, the new Nazi re.
gime he set up scraped the Ger.
man manpower barrel to reinforce
the eastern front against the Rus.
slams. 1t was done in the face Of
warning by General Dittmar
spokesman of the German military
high command, that the crisis for
Germany lay in the West-not in
the east.
That military judgment has now
been we'll proven by events, It's
in the west, near the Saarbrucken
gap leading into the industrial
heartland of Germany that mass
i've Allied striking power is mus
tered for a knock out blow.
Rout
The German flight from France
has gone at pace leaving no
doubt that it lacks any semblance
of plan or purpose.
Through it all in the west there
has been little if any intimatiM
of German reinforcement of that
| front by withdrawals from the east
or elsewhere.
1t seems incredible that such a
total military misconception Of the
realities of the war in the West,
or even the ruthless fanaticism Of
| Hitler and his Nazi Leadership
crew, could account for the Ger.
man debacle in France. Historians
will seek some other explanation
They may find it in a deliberate
policy of limiting the strength On
the ground or in air to be con-
mitted to the French, Italian Or
any other theater under pressure
of the western Allies, while strain
ing every nerve to keep the Rus
slams in the east at bay from Reich
frontiers proper.
The obvious purpose would be 70
prepare for eventual capitulatlM
proffers to the Allies, or even yield
ing to Allied occupation Of most Of
Germany before the Russians
could move in.
Anglo American rejection d
any such proposal is foregoN
conclusion; but it would be graW
matter for the war Leadership d
either country to deal with. Am
it's rejection could be used by tn
(, Nazis to fuel the propaganda tire
already blazing with warnings
Germans of what their fate Will .
at the hands of Russian ylctors
they succumb
!