The source: Politischer Informationsdienst der NSDAP. Gaupropagandaleitung Sachsen, Folge 10, 27 March 1945.
Gaupropagandaleitung Sachsen
Folge 10: 27 March 1945
At the beginning of March the Führer was at the Eastern Front to inspect the strength and armaments of the units there. Among other things, he visited two newly-formed infantry divisions. The soldiers greeted the Führer enthusiastically as they marched past. In a brief but moving speech to the soldiers of these divisions, the Führer expressed his firm confidence in victory. Among other things he said: “Troops must defend their section until the time for our offensive armies to attack has come. That time must and will come. The German people that over its history has already withstood so many storms will also master the Bolshevist attack from the Eastern steppes.”
Since the invasion began, Eisenhower has attempted with all his forces to break into the Rhine-Westphalian industrial region, and to occupy Western Germany. In recent days the Anglo-American armies have attempted to reach the goal they have had since the invasion began. Today it can already be established that they did not succeed in encircling and destroying our troops.
The resources the enemy needs is shown by the major offensive of the First Canadian Army against a small German bridgehead. Within two hours, a powerful artillery barrage of 60,000 heavy shells was fired at an area of about ten square kilometers. The attack did not break through our defenses.
In evaluating the situation on the Western Front, one must not ignore that fact that the enemy’s supply problems are increasing. Our increased U-boat campaign is contributing to that. Each day the great battle of attrition in Western Germany devours one to two whole Anglo-Americans divisions. In February alone, the Anglo-Americans lost 2,000 tanks on the Western Front.
Captured enemy soldiers say that there are hardly any veterans of the first two months of the invasion left.
Domestic Political Difficulties in America
Roosevelt admitted domestic political difficulties in America at a press conference. In answer to the question of whether one could expect a sudden end to the war against Germany, he said that all these hopes are nothing but “unfounded speculation.”
The Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet provides interesting information about the effects of our V-weapons on Antwerp. “The great harbor city is being slowly but surely destroyed. Sometimes eight flying bombs detonate in Antwerp within an hour. It is not uncommon for a V-bomb to destroy forty buildings all at once.”
Reich Commissioner Heck estimates that the total contributions of the people’s sacrifice was about 60,000 tons. If it takes 25 kilograms of clothing for a soldier, these contributions are enough to outfit 130 Volksgrenadier divisions. It would take more than 4,000 railway cars of 15 tons each to carry the 60,000 tons. At ten meters a car, the length would be 40 kilometers.
Colonel General Fromm Sentenced to Death
This former commander of the reserve army was sentenced to death by the People’s Court for dereliction of duty, from fear of person danger and cowardice.
British Airforce Losses in 1944
Between 1 April and 30 September 1944, the RAF Bomber Command alone “lost more than 10,000 men.”
Anti-Soviet Unrest behind the Bolshevist Front
A deserter from the Western Ukraine on the Slovakian front reported:
“Soviet supplies have been hindered by explosions and Parisian activity around Lemberg. Recruits from the Ukraine desert on the way to the front and join the partisans. There have been lively battles between the national resistance groups and Soviet troops. In one village 500 partisans held off 2,000 Red Army troops until they received artillery support. The Soviets forced women and children into a wooden house and burned them alive. The resistance forces continued to attack. They were finally overpowered after a three-day battle that cost the Soviet troops heavy casualties.”
Alexander Werth, a correspondent in Moscow for the Sunday Times, reported on anti-Soviet unrest in a report on conditions in the USSR on 10 January 1945:
“The danger not only of Fascist governments, but also of Fascist groups, is clear to the Soviets, for example, in parts of the Ukraine. Nazi poison has left deep traces in Europe and even within the Soviet Union.”
De Gaulle made a statement to the so-called Constitutive National Assembly on 2 March on France’s difficult situation. He said: “France currently has only a third of the coal that its industry needs. It can make almost no use of its iron ore reserves. It has only two-thirds of the grain it needs, and half of the livestock. The number of our locomotives and railway cars is almost laughable. Our army has 120,000 men, but most have neither equipment nor weapons.”
De Gaulle thus shows that the Allies’ reconquest of France is more a burden than a benefit to their war effort.
The New York magazine Newsweek, commenting on 3 March 1945 on cuts in the meat, butter, and other foodstuff rations in the USA, wrote: “These cuts will last a long time. Meat production in the current year will fall at least two billion pounds under the goal. Butter is short because dried milk must be sent in huge amounts to the front. Sugar reserves will fall to 1.3 million tons by the end of the year, 461,000 tons less than at the beginning of 1944.
The sugar beet harvest suffers from a lack of workers. This shortage is also why we cannot plant other vital crops.”
The Belgian embassy in Lisbon reported in its 3 March 1945 news release that about 25,000 Belgians are unemployed, although 500,000 Belgian workers are still in Germany. The food supply, according to official sources, is not even 50% of the required amount to sustain human life. The great majority of Belgian children suffer from hunger, and deaths from tuberculosis are up 50%. The undeniable cause of this misery is that the Allies have blocked shipping from the Belgian Congo. Quoting the source: “The Belgian people has waited long enough. Its patience is done. Belgian politicians were perhaps too willing to trust Allied promises.”
A statement by American Undersecretary of State Grew on 3 March to representatives of the foreign press in New York reveals how little the Anglo-Americans are in a position to fulfill their promises. He said plainly and clearly that the war effort in Europe and East Asia hindered the USA from helping the liberated European nations.
British commentator Vernon Bartless explained the British position on this question in an article in the News Chronicle on 1 March with the following words: “Urgent appeals for help come from each liberated country. The English are tired of these sad stories from Europe. After all, we ourselves suffer from the lack of many necessities and are hard pressed by the concerns of the war. We are clear that, under these conditions, England is threatened by the nearby continent.”
American Undersecretary of State Grew declared at a press conference on 4 March 1945 that from the American point of view the status of the Balkan states is unchanged after the Yalta Conference. The representatives of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania remain recognized by the American State Department.
Germany Will Not Lose
An American newspaper reporter from the United Press had opportunity to speak with German prisoners on the Western Front. He concluded that the outstanding morale of the German soldiers leaves the Allies with a great deal more to do.
He had the following conversation with a 22-year-old Berliner: ““Do you realize that Germany has lost the war?” “Germany has not lost the war.” “How do you think Germany can still win?” “I have no idea, but we are Germans and one thing we know is that Germany will not lose.” “What do you say about the fact that the Russians are 60 kilometers from Berlin?” “We got even closer to Moscow.” “You were in Berlin last November and know that dozens of factories have been bombed.” “We are Germans and work anyway, because we are convinced that this war must end well for us whatever happens.”
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