Mediterranean Algiers Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 30, 1943, Algiers, Algiers Page 4the stars and stripes sunday May 30, 1943inside Hitler s festing Europa Europe first says Churchill japanese threat will not divert Allied War Effort towards Continental fortress by Walter Millis n. F. Herald Tribune new York prime minister Winston Churchill in bus recen address before the american Congress naturally gave no hint As to where or when the next Allied blows will fall but he made it certain that these blows have been Long and Well prepared and that nothing in the Pacific or burmese Heaters can divert them from the major objective which is the evil Citadel of Hitler ism. With the fall of Tunisia How does the situation stand before the allies lies what Hitler Calls the Quot fortress of Europe what is this supposed stronghold it is a fortress the outer defences of which have already been breached the submarines on which the germans have placed great Reliance have already proved powerless to Stem the Advance. This is a fortress with Quot Walls which sprawling Many thousands of Miles around the coasts of Europe cannot possibly be everywhere strongly defended. It is a fortress which immediately behind these Walls is crowded with savagely embittered Peoples and so called a a allies in a state of almost equal privation dissatisfaction and dissension. Protest one need Only look at the latest authenticated information. In Hungary German arrogance has raised up a Strong pro democratic Cut of workers Farmers and Sines Smen while hungarian officers have been bitterly protesting the Way in which their troops have been sacrificed and slaughtered in Russia in order to protect the germans. Conditions in Rumania Are we revealed in a speech by German ambassador von Killinger on May i in which he attacked what he called the Quot anti germans politicians who Are nothing but loafers the faceless mob and the pro English and pro russian defeatists a and was driven to threaten that Germany would herself have to enforce control. Quot we done to allow such prisoners of Wells to endanger our control a a Clear indication of How far it is already endangered. The rumanian press is now openly attacking the germans and German minorities. Amp in Bulgaria conditions Are reaching the same extremes of privation which Hitler has spread throughout much of Europe. Sofia newspapers show the severity of the food shortage. They report queues starting at five in the morning there is no More wheat flour in bulgarians second City Plovdiv where bread is Quot so Sticky and raw that it resembles anything but bread a and where the breakdown of rationing often leaves people with no bread at All. Sabotage is increasing especially against shipments of plunder to Germany while the shoe shortage has left workers barefooted even in the Winter months. Italy a Story Italy repeats the same Story of deprivation of German looting of the Economy the manpower and the resources of the country. These Are All Germany a allies of the condition of the subject people it is scarcely necessary to speak. Together they form a vast ring Between Germany and the coastal a a Walls of the German propaganda labors night and Day to prove that Germany is a a protecting Quot them within the battlements actually having drained them of their resources starved them and exploited them to the full limit of German arrogance the germans Are now expecting them to act As bloody cushions which will absorb the blows directed against nazism itself. The real Walls of the fortress Are not the thin a a Strung coastal r a is they Are bodies of �?T�?Ta1 hit and muss by pvt. Vebell what lies behind them in the Citadel itself a nation which has scraped the very Bottom of its manpower barrel a nation under terrific air blows which it cannot turn or escape and which is putting a tremendous Strain on its communications manpower and production Quot a nation whose once powerful air Force is rapidly dwindling and which no longer can give its great armies the air support they More and More urgently require. And above All it is a nation whose Savage leaders know now that Victory is impossible. The old proud boasts Are gone. It is the germans who have acquired a defensive a Maginot line mentality. A the allies a says Gas Schwarz Korps a a must tear the european land from us piece by piece. We shall try to prevent nothing could More clearly reveal the True state of mind of Germany than such a quotation which would have been impossible even a year ago from the brutal masters of Blitzkrieg offensive. No More boasts it is their safety which the germans Are now trying to emphasize not their strength. Tran Ocean the nazi news Agency finds that the a a protective Wall along the Atlantic coast is now 200 Kilometres longer than the great Wall of China which is a strange comparison. The Munich Neuse Nach Richter admits that a Landing Quot will always be possible if the necessary Effort is made a but Hopes that a boats and the Luftwaffe can prevent such landings from being exploited. The German press has seized with striking eagerness on the unfounded Hope that the Churchill Roosevelt conference might mean the diversion of Allied Effort from Europe to Japan. At the Center of their Citadel the Savage tyrants of Europe Are nervously reassuring themselves by thoughts of the great Wall of China and the prowess of the japanese. This is some indication of the reality that has has now been found behind the paper facade of the a a fortress of Europe with which the nazis have been trying to impress the world. None can doubt that the a a fortress is a a a fortress of cruelty oppression and deep seated weakness against which the allies now can and i of roofless and burned houses. The will strike and strike hard. Central station alone escaped with the Humble Shoemaker nazis letters show effects of bombings during the past three months Allied bombers have droned in an almost unbroken Stream across the English Channel to unload death and destruction on hitlers european bulwark. What effect the constant hammering has had on the German people themselves is revealed to some degree in letters from mothers wives and relatives in Germany found on captured nazi soldiers. That the bombing raids have become an obsession with the people is apparent in that almost no letter fails to mention friends or relatives killed or the nerve shattering effect of the continuous air raid alarms in the larger cities. One letter from a Mother to her son in Tunisia for instance told him a a you Are even safer it ver there than we Are Here. The bombings Are coming almost every Day and we never know who will be killed next. So Many of our friends have gone. A Here is a longer excerpt from another letter by a Man from Essen Germany a in be just had a look at Essen after the last american strafing. Its absolutely incredible. Essen is ruined for All time. Even As you approach the City you see a Vista Little damage. But if you walk around the Adolf Hitler Strasse. The scene is unbelievable. To the right and left Only the Wall foundations Are left standing. Great business houses like the Brenning Meyer and loosen Are burned to the ground. The brewery is destroyed and the town Hall has collapsed. A the desolation goes beyond the Viehofer Platz As far As old Essen there a nothing left but the foundations on both sides. They say Essen has 250.000 homeless who will be evacuated or so they Promise. This must have been the very worst bombing of All. The people Are very disheartened mainly because every Chance of employment has been removed and the Krupp works Are badly damaged. A a on monday you buy a thing in Essen and All the restaurants were closed. They had to distribute extra bread meat and lard ration cards to keep the people quiet and in every event All the stores Are in ruins. We re sending bread every Day into Essen from Here Wanne Eickel. A the people sat outside their houses and pulled such bits and pieces As they could save out of their cellars. Many families Are torn apart. In order to find each other they put messages on the ruins of their Homes telling How to meet severe damage caused by Ruhr dam breakdown London reverberations of the rap blasting of the Eder and Mohne dams in germans Industrial Ruhr Valley a fortnight ago spilling millions of tons of water Over the area still echoed throughout the world last week. In the Ruhr itself heart of Germany a War production machine nazi troops and workers began repairing Power plants and attempting to restore disrupted War and civilian services while the Gestapo took Over from local authorities in several towns including Kassel to put Down civilian disturbances. Thousands of residents were still homeless As a result of the flood Waters which had reached areas some 70 Miles Down the Valley from the Breaks. At Washington officials of the Board of economic warfare reported that the reduction of the Supply of pure water for essential industries and for the 6,500,000 people in the Ruhr area was one of the important Long term consequences of the breach of the Moline dam largest of the two. Should the German steel Industry alone absorb the loss for example the steel output would be Cut by about 1,000,000 tons offi Cio in Cair Henry j. Kaiser leading american shipbuilder and one of the builders of americans three greatest dams confirmed the London estimate on repair. A a assuming that the required equipment material and manpower were available the Mohne and Eder dams could probably be rebuilt in 19 months a Kaiser said. Meanwhile Germany rushed additional anti aircraft Protection and nets for their remaining dams along the Rhine anticipating further attacks by the Raf. Ruhr cities continued from Page i machine As Well As the seat of most of the armament concerns administrative Headquarters in the Rhine and Ruhr District. The raids brought to 100,000 tons the total weight of bombs dropped on Germany since the War s beginning. American heavy bombers blasted Wilhel shaven and Emden almost daily in a continuation of their non Stop attack on the two cities. The 8th Saaf established a record for a single Days bag it was announced when 74 German planes were destroyed in a raid May 21. Twelve american bombers were lost in that action. During May the Saaf dropped a greater weight of bombs on nazi targets than in any month since the first United states raid was made from Britain aug. 17, 1942. Mosquito bombed Berlin for the fifth time in eight nights. Four German bombers were destroyed in a Daylight raid on England a South coast. National patriots increase resistance to nazis As underground seethes Boring from within at the whole foundation of hitlers european fortress last week were uncounted thousands of defiant Peoples in the continents occupied countries enrolled in organized underground resistance or guerilla warfare. Here is what they were doing France Vichy posted a 100,000 franc Reward for information leading to the arrest of French patriots who killed seven and wounded 30 nazis in a a outrages against a Lyons hotel. The German news Agency reported the assassination of Raymond Dirr pro nazi mayor of a Paris suburb and the killing of or. Michael querion nazi party chief at Poitiers. An underground Quot Council of National resistance was formed in Paris. In the North patriots destroyed three More trains killing 17 and wounding some 20 other germans. At Marseilles a High ranking italian officer and Gestapo agent were assassinated. Belgium belgian workers who escaped from Germany told How they slowed Down production by Actu shifts. Five belgians accused of sabotaging a Railroad were executed. A wave of fires and a Quot plague of burning barns and other farm buildings were reported two More belgians accused of publishing an underground paper were put to death. The belgian news Agency reported German troops had mutinied in three districts of the country. Holland nazis executed 70 More dutch patriots and warned that Quot every attempt to create unrest will be drowned in German sources announced that 90 percent of the dutch students who refused to sign a recent nazi a a obedience proposal have been deported to Germany for work. Norway the Gestapo has taken Over the control of All norwegian police functions in name As Well As in fact. Poland nazis burned 200 houses in the Warsaw ghetto and executed four members of a Council for failure to teach jews subservience to or Kurt Hoffman. Nazi Diree Tor of Warsaw labor Exchange was slain after polish patriots marked him for death in a warning bulletin delivered to his door. Railroaders near Lubin wrecked a German troop and Supply train. Poles tossed hand grenades into a German police meeting at ran Dow killing or wounding at least 50. Three German officers were killed by patriots at Cracow. Rumania Moscow radio reported a state of emergency was declared on rumanian railways because of increasing sabotage particularly of Oil and gasoline trains. Denmark the Copenhagen Syndicate largest manufacturing Plant producing arms for the nazis in Denmark was destroyed by an explosion. Yugoslavia new contingents of German troops were dispatched to Yugoslavia to put Down the increasing insurrection of Gen. Miha Ilovitch a guerilla armies. Patriots destroyed All installations in the important mining town of Vereniki including Power stations and occupy the town. Gestapo chief Himmler formed a special legion of marksmen to combat rising Patriot attacks. Open fighting continued Between patriots and croat storm troopers of hitlers puppet dictator South and West of Belgrade. Albania some 38 bands of guerillas Wen reported roaming the mountains attacking military installations and killing italian soldiers. Leaflets inciting a revolt against the italian occupation were being distributed everywhere. Bulgaria demonstrations against the Axl Rose in Sofia and increased numbers of anti Hitler tracts and pamphlets were distributed. At least 12 More Quisling civil service officials were killed. Greece greek guerillas ambushed 1,200 italian troops killed 400 and took 130 prisoners. All this did not mean that the German grip on occupied Europe was loosening. These events were merely symptomatic of we hat was going on and indicative of direr things to come
