Völkischer Beobachter Front Pages: July 1944.

Background: This page is part of a larger project to trace the history of World War II as reflected in the headlines of the Völkischer Beobachter, the Nazi Party’s daily newspaper.

July 1944 was a bad month for Germany. The Allied invasion of France kept making progress. On July 20 an attempt was made on Hitler. At the end of the month Soviet troops were entering what once was Poland. The only good news was the V-1, which got lots of headlines. But the reader could not help but notice that the news was bad.

Völkischer Beobachter: July 1944

	1 July 1944 The V-1 Rattles English Phlegmaticism Will London Have to Be Evacuated? Residents Victims of Unscrupulous Agitation — Labor Productivity Significantly Reduced — Insufficient Air Raid Shelters
	2 July 1944 General Dietl Dies in Accident The Führer’s Order of the Day
	3 July 1944 With the Full Fanaticism of the Nation The Führer: Absolute Confidence in Our Strength is the Foundation to Overcoming All Difficulties
	4 July 1944 Despite Fighters, Bombers, Flak: ; The V-1 Strikes Military Staging Areas in England’s South This issue has a lead article titled “Zionism and Its Dangers” that objects to sending Jews to Palestine, without providing an alternative. Of course, by July 1944 most Jews had already been killed, something the press carefully avoided suggesting most of the tim1
	5 July 1944 The Rage of the Trapped Criminals Effects of the V-1: British Outbreaks of Fear and Hatred
	6 July 1944 The Führer Speaks to Leading Men in Armaments “We Will Survive This Age and Will in the End Win This War!” “Each Individual Has but a Single Duty, to Fight and Work Unceasingly for Victory!”
	7 July 1944 Revenge Makes Churchill Hated Still No Defense against the V-1 Helpless Anger from the Inventors of Air Terror
	8 July 1944 Reich Minister Funk on Currency Policy “A World Currency is Utopian” Our Most Important Task is in the Social Realm _________________________________________________________________ The Bretton Woods conference had just met. It discussed the future international financial order.
	9 July 1944 Dr. Goebbels Spoke to over 200,000 Germans “It is a Matter of Life or Death for the Nation” The Demand of the Hour: Mobilizing All Reserves Goebbels concluded the speech: “We National Socialists have been through so many crises and tests over the history of our movement and the Reich, and overcome them. We never for a moment doubt our success, and the best guarantee of that is offered by the Führer himself. We look to him with faithful trust. He will lead the nation with a sure hand through all dangers and challenges. His affirmation is also ours, that a battle supported by the whole fanaticism of the nation cannot end other than with a victory.”
	10 July 1944 Interim Balance of the Battle in Italy The Front South of Florence About 500 Kilometers of Coastal Defense Spared
	11 July 1944 London between Illusions and Disillusionment English V-1 Admissions Most Strikes in Greater London — Significant Damage — Government Fails
	12 July 1944 German-Finnish Military Cooperation Proves Itself Soviet Offensive in Finland Stopped
	13 July 1944 “Buffer State Canada” The End of the Empire England Should Leave the USA’s Area of Control
	14 July 1944 Witnesses of German Fighting Strength Fanaticism against Material The Causes of Heavy Losses by the Invaders in Normandy
	15 July 1944 The Big Spender in the White House What is Roosevelt’s War Costing the USA?
	16 July 1944 The Movement’s Capital Is Tested The Crime of Munich New Devastation and Destruction of Housing and World Famous Cultural Landmarks
	17 July 1944 Normandy Report for England “Highly Depressing” Enormous Losses, but No Progress
	18 July 1944 New British Trick: French to Bleed Again for England Because the Invasion Strategy Has Failed
	19 July 1944 Morrison’s Speech “Superfluous” “V-1 Still Cannot Be Stopped” Morrison was the English Home Secretary. He had said that there was still no way of stopping the V-1, and one should assume they would continue for a long time. The article cites a British newspaper that wrote if that was all he had to say, he should have kept silent.
	20 July 1944 Under Fire in the Battle of Normandy The German Soldier Holds Firm The article quotes Allied journalists about the effectiveness of German defensive ability.
	21 July 1944 The New Battle in the West: Beginning of the Invasion’s Second Phase General Enemy Offensive on All Fronts The item to the upper left reports the first details on the assassination attempt on Hitler the day before. It asserts that his injuries were minor and he had a long conversation with Mussolini.
	22 July 1944 We Heard Our Führer’s Voice Providence Confirms Adolf Hitler’s Mission The editorial to the right begins: “We need only imagine that the attack on the Führer had succeeded to understand the historic meaning of his wonderful rescue from great and imminent danger. Our fate is in his hands. His faith steels our resistance, his will overcomes all difficulty, his wisdom shows the way to a change in things. Perhaps we could win this war without him, but with him our victory is certain.”
	23 July 1944 “Adolf Hitler is Everything to Us!” The Nation Pledges Him Loyalty to the End Dr. Ley Expressed the Thoughts of All Germans at a Great Mass Meeting
	24 July 1944 General Guderian Reads on the Radio: The Führer’s Order of the Day to the Army Discussion of the assassination attempt fills the front page
	25 July 1944 The Enemy Camp Deeply Disappointed Normandy Offensive Collapses Embarrassed Excuses from the Anglo-Americans
	26 July 1944 Why Does the USA Have No Quinine? Roosevelt Profits from the Death of His Soldiers The only source of quinine at the beginning of the war was Java, which the Japanese captured in January 1942. Malaria was a major problem for the U.S. in the Pacific. The article claims the shortage was the result of efforts by members of the Roosevelt administration to profit from the lack of the drug
	27 July 1944 The Will of the Entire Nation: Unlimited, Total Use of All Resources and Strengths for Victory Dr. Goebbels Spoke to the German People
	28 July 1944 The Battle in the East Unimaginably Violent Soldiers and Weapons are the Order of the Day The article begins: “The battle in the East has reached a level beyond all civilian conceptions.”
;	29 July 1944 The Soviet Attack on the Generalgouvernement The Battle for Time The Generalgouvernment was the German term for occupied Poland. The article states that the enemy attack is too strong for the German army to stop. The goal is to gain time to train new troops and manufacture new equipment that will permit counterattacks. This is one of the more pessimistic reports.
	30 July 1944 Desperate Efforts Using Outdated Military Technology V-1 Defense Fails Three Ways _____________________________________________________________________________________________ The article states that England is using coastal guns, fighter planes, and barrier balloons to stop V-1s, but with limited success.
	31 July 1944 With the Approval of Churchill and Roosevelt Moscow Attacks Poland