Daily Post - 13.12.1941, Side 2

DA£LY P06T
... . n—
The New Style of German
Taken from a B. B. G.
Broadcast by a Royal Marine
'i
DAILY POST
is published by
Blaðahringurinn.
Editors: S. Benediktsson.
Sgt. J. I. McGhie.
Ofíice: 12, Austurstræti, Tel.
3715, Reykjavík. Printed by
Alþýðuprentsmiðjan
Saturday, Dec. 13, 1941
Hitler’s First Defeat
Hitler’s offensive against
Russia, which began nearly six
months ago, has come to a halt.
The German army, which over-
ran Poland in a fortnight and
France in a month, has failed
after half a year to take either
Moscow or Leningrad. Its blitz
timetable has broken down
completely and both Hitler and
his High Command have an-
nounced that offensive operat-
ions must be suspended until
the spring.
Nothing can conceal the fact
that the failure of his Russian
plans constitutes a major de-
feat for Hitler. And nothing
should be allowed to divert our
attention from the European
front, which is and will remain
the key to the defeat of the
Axis. The Pacific war started
on the very day on which the
Germans announced their de-
cision to call a halt on the
Eastern Front. This was no
coincidence. Hitler indeed
“called in the New World to re-
dress the balance in the Old”.
He called Japan into the war,
partly of course by a sensat-
ional stroke to cover his dis-
comfiture, but chiefly because,
if he is to resume his advknce
in Russia in the Spring, it is
essential that supplies shall in
the meantime not reach the
Russian troops in greater
quantities than they reach the
German.
Hitler, and with - him the
whole Axis power, will stand or
fall by his ability to defeat
Rusia next Spring or Summer.
But if Anglo-American supplies
can reach Russia in maximum
quantities during the winter, he
will never get the chance to re-
sume his advance. Therefore it
/Was essential for him to divert
Anglo-American resourcés in
other directions during the
Soldier
T WAS with the Royal
Marines when we land-
ed at Calais ahout midnight
on Saturday the 25th of May
1940. It was the day before
Calais was finally taken.
We had a day of the most
extraordinary fighting I)ve
ever seen. We were fired at
from all directions at once, and
we seldom saw the enemy at
all.
We lost a good many men
and we were captured on the
Sunday morning at 9 o’clock.
There seemed to be only a
handful of German soldiers
around Calais, but my word,
were they well armed! Every
man had his tommy-gun, and
his pockets were full of am-
munition. They don’t carry it
in 'bandoliers or pouches. And
we soon saw how quick and
straight they can shoot. They
were shooting all the time for
sport, and to show off, at any-
thing that happened to be
about; cats and dogs, hens, men
and women — anything that
came handy. And they were
hitting them right in the head
every time.
winter, Therefore Japan made
war. Let us fully , understand
that Japan is ili a sense a red
herring — though a very solid
one, and with good teeth in its
mouth. Japan may inflict heavy ,
blows on us and on Ame-
rica, but in the last resort,
without the German Army, she
will flounder like a fish on dry
land.
Hitler has placed us on the
horns of a dilemma. How to
divide our still limited re-
sources between the European
fronts and the Pacific front?
Mr. Churchill indicated in his
last speecji that we shall not be
panicked by bad news from the
Far East into depriving Russia
of our maximum support and
supplies and thus playing into
Hitler’s hands.
And they all had hand gren-
ades on sticks stuffed inside
their tunics and in the tops of
their Jack-boots, but they
didn’t waste any of those!
NO PACKS OR WEBBING
Another thing — they had no
packs or water bottles or webb-
ing equipment. So far as we
could make out that was all
carried in trucks, and I suppose
that’s why they w’ere able to
get about so quick. They were
smart enough on the march but
when they were fighting every
one of them was like a killer
all on his own — more like
dogs hunting. And the officers
went about in tanks. The men
seemed to be very scared of the
officers, but they were all free
to loot and to kill anyone that
came across their track.
Well, after I was taken pris-
oner I had 21 days with these
chaps. Our column was herded
along through the Belgian vill-
ages which the Germans had
just captured. They gave us no
food, and so after a bit we all
got very hungry. We were
sleeping out in the fields or
sometimes in an orchard, and
some of the men tried to get
apples from the trees. But the
guards shot them.
KILLED FOR SPORT
The Belgian people tried to
give us focd as we went along
in the line of march, and some
of the, men would stretch out
their hands to take a piece of
bread, and they got shot too.
The nearest German picked
them off with his tommy-gun,
and they left the bodies lying
in the road. Some of them used
the bayonet instead.
You may not believe it, but
they’d tell a man who had col-
lapsed to sit on the wing of a
car as if they were going to
give him a lift. Then the driver
would zig-zag up the road so he
fell off. Then he’d usually get
run over by the back-wheels. I
never saw anything like this
march in my life. They seemed
to enjoy all this sort of thing,
and some days they killed any-
thing up to ten men, more or
less in the way of sport.
They nearly all spoke Eng-
lish and they often talked to
us at odd times — they used
to talk about what they were
goin to do to Britain, and hoW
they’d die for Hitler. And after
they’d shot a man they’d Pat
their tommy-gun affectionately
and wink at us. That just shows
you their mentality. They treat-
ed the old women and children
worse than they did us, but I
thrnk they treated the French
Colonial troops the worst of the
lot — killing them and whipP'
ing them like slaves. just to-
hear them shout.
WILD ANIMALS
The older soldiers who d
seen the last 'war were differ-
ent, less like crafty wild anJ-
mals — much more human ai'
together, and they don’t seem
to get the gangster idea ot
warfare.
I got an idea why the young'
sters are all so familiar with
their weapons from what I saW
of the camps we passed on the
road. We very seldom saw the
Germans drilling, but you’d ai'
ways see targets up and men
firing either under instruction
or in their own time. ahd they
certainly were training all the
time. Firing and P.T. seemed
to be the main things. And they
think of nothing else but the
war. I don’t believe people here
realise all they read about the
German Army and hoW tbe
Germans are behaving. I c&n
tell you, you haven’t heard a
quarter of the truth. It’s worse
than you think. My German
gangster friends will kill yoU 1
they can. And, believe me’
they’re awkward people to meet
all of a sudden.
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