The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-03-01


unnamed war department "spokes-
man. the belief that all organized
resistance in Germany would end
in "a few days"
At least so officers and men in
our army have spoken to me about
that story. They wanted to know
what it meant and how anybody,
even someone so far from the scene
and with so little first-hand know
ledge, could be so wrong.
Men facing formidable enemy
dealing out death "a hours a day
don't like to be told that the fighting
is practically over. When it's over,
they'll know it before anyone else
does.
There are, of course, small signs
that enemy resistance is weaken
ing. The men with the First army
on the Roer river were astonished
when some German paratroopers
surrendered after virtually no fight.
But how much this means, no one
can say.
The Russian advances in the east
have been one of the most remark
able phenomenon of the war. They
have cut off one of Germany's chief
sources of industrial supply.
But no one here familiar with the
whole picture believes that Ber-
lin will fall without a prolonged
siege and block-by-block fight for
the city. The Germans will defend
their capital as the Russians de-
Tended Stalingrad, and the siege
may conceivably last as long.
Take Budapest as an example of
the German capacity to defend
city This was of far less import
ance than Berlin, and yet German
troops defended it block by block
in siege that lasted many weeks.
The bombed areas of Berlin will
afford excellent defense positions
for the besieged Wehrmacht.
Because they have lost the indus
trial area in Silesia, the Germans
will fight doubly hard to retain the
Ruhr. There is no reason to be-
lieve that the defenses of the Rhine
and Ruhr have been materially
weakened by withdrawal of divi-
sions sent to the eastern front.
The overriding fact is that for
millions of Germans defeat can only
mean death, either at the hands of
their own people in civil uprisings
or by sentences dealt out by war.
guilt courts Of the victorious Allies.
Being well aware of this, the nazis
prefer to 60 down fighting, and even
after ''organized resistance" ends
there is the probability of prolonged
guerilla warfare.
The question of whether the war
has been prolonged by uncondition-
al surrender terms or by proposals
to de-industrialize Germany, is one
that holds great interest for our
fighting men. have heard a num-
Der express deep resentment for the
so-called Morgenthau plan for a
Carthaginian peace for Germany.
in the belief that it gave the Nazis
propaganda weapon with which
to whip up the war-weary German
people.
If anything, the savagery and
ferocity of the fighting has in
creased since the German often
sive in the Ardennes. Hints are
now beginning to come from the
Nazi propaganda mill of new hor-
rors and brutalities, with the plain
implication that, in the gotterdam-
merung of their phony gods, the
Nazis will be bound by no restric-
tons whatsoever.
The only question is whether
any elements are left in Germany
the Prussian military caste, per.
haps-with sufficient force to pre-
vent the mad fanatics from con-
verting Germany into vast fun
eral pyre. The answer to that may
come when the spring advances
close in on the Reich.
Copyright 1945 BY United Press
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