German Propaganda Archive Calvin University

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Background: This is a newsletter for party leaders and propagandists in Gau Sachsen. It takes up the military situation and attempts to put the best possible light on it. Since Germans were increasingly suspicious of their own propaganda, citations from the Allied press are used to suggest that the military situation is not as bad as it looks.

The source: Politischer Informationsdienst der NSDAP. Gaupropagandaleitung Sachsen, Folge 3, 27 November 1944.


Political Information Service of the NSDAP

Gaupropagandaleitung Sachsen

Folge 3: 27 November 1944

Roosevelt’s Re-election

Roosevelt’s opponent Dewey had considerable numbers of votes. Of 50 million Americans, 23 million voted against Roosevelt. The Americans re-elected Roosevelt because he promised a quick end to the war. He and his Jews campaigned by mentioning the approaching final victory, saying that one should not change leadership just before the end. It is significant that Roosevelt did not release the election results to those units at the front.

The American magazine Colliers Magazin [sic] writes, among other things: “Since we are not a military people, the spiritual exertions of this war can no longer be maintained even by those with the strongest nerves.” If the previous material superiority of our enemies can be made up for by our new technical innovations, American nerves will not be strong enough to defeat the German people that is fighting for its life.

Expanded Use of Our V-Weapons

The V-1 and V-2 are being used increasingly at the front. The V-2 is highly accurate and has a range that the enemy cannot yet imagine. We can now systematically strike the enemy supply system at its most critical points. The significance of the V-2 will become fully clear when our new U-boats attack once again. Anglo-American supplies will be pinched both on land and sea. The Anglo-American front will then depend more and more on British armaments production. This, however, cannot be protected from the V-2. After six months, Churchill will have an entirely different opinion of our new secret weapons than he has today.

Our production of aircraft, U-boats, and revenge weapons has clearly shown that even in a phase of the war favorable to him, the enemy cannot hinder our armaments planning.

USA Worries about the V-2

The New York correspondent of the Daily Express reports that there is lively discussion in the USA about the V-2. The New York Time warns USA citizens that the Germans are in a position to further develop the V-2 and use it against targets other than England.

“A Fully New Factor”

British General Collins, writing in the army magazine The Army Quarterly, notes that German V-weapons are an entirely new factor in warfare that have much worse consequences for Great Britain than for any other country. It is absolutely necessary to develop measures to protect the British Isles, and above all London, from the V-weapons. That is naturally difficult. The material damage caused by the V-weapons is so enormous that something must absolutely be done. But there is no defense against the V-2.

Mistrustful England

According to the Irish newspaper Leader, England is viewing with growing concern the increasing friendship between Stalin and Roosevelt. Great Britain, it is true, shares with Stalin the will to destroy Germany, but there are significant differences of opinion about plans for post-war Europe. London fears that Washington will not give it enough support in negotiations with Moscow. Both Great Britain and Soviet Russia are conducting this war for purely imperialist reasons, and Stalin does not intend to change his currently successful foreign policy, which has to strangle the English.

Limits of Material Superiority

In considering military developments on the Western Front since the invasion, it is often not sufficiently noted that the Anglo-Americans needed nearly four years to assemble the war matériel that was at their disposal when the invasion began. They hoped with the first blow to use this assembled war materiel to decide the war.

It should be especially emphasized that they have suffered heavy loss of men and matériel since the beginning of the invasion, and that they now have serious difficulties. General Eisenhower called on American armaments workers to increase production of munitions, trucks, and tanks as rapidly as possible. This call for help has also had an educational impact in England, where one believed that the American war potential was inexhaustible.

American Undersecretary of State Patterson described the situation in which our Western enemy finds itself on 13.11.1944: “The American workers must make superhuman efforts to keep up at all with the use of war matériel at the front.” General Eisenhower said over the radio that the munitions for February and March of next year have already been used up.

This statement also shows the danger to the invasion armies that will result from a renewal of the U-boat war.

The U-Boat War Will Resume Soon

Radio London commented on the U-boat war, saying among other things: “Our air attacks forced the submarines to stay longer and longer under water, until with the help of new clever German technology they can stay under water for a long time.

Admiral Dönitz has not lost. If he changes his tactics, he will soon give us new worries. The problem of destroying these new, almost invisible U-boats, will become the hardest task we face. We would be stupid if we succumbed to a feeling of false security. The German sailors are inventive and hard fighters.”

The crews of our new U-boats will prove that!

Our Troops in Finland

After the evacuation of the cities of Petsamo and Kirkenes, our population worries about the fate of our troops still in Finland.

This is what to say:

The retreating troops in central Finland are moving in the direction of the Norwegian-Swedish border.

Petsamo and Kirkenes are to the east of the planned route, so our troops are in no way cut off from northern Norway. Connections between Wehrmacht units in northern Norway and central Finland are, as before, secure.

This matter should be discussed only in local groups with family members of people’s comrades in Finland.

Recipients:

[Page copyright © 2015 by Randall Bytwerk. No unauthorized reproduction. My e-mail address is available on the FAQ page.]


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