South Yorkshire Times, November 13th 1943
To The Bitter End
Hitler’s speech, sandwiched between those of Marshal Stalin and Mr. Churchill, did not gain anything by the inevitable comparison. It was jaunty enough; even fiercely truculent, as in the days when the Nazi star was in the ascendant. But it was manifestly lacking in substance.
It was difficult for the Fuehrer to draw much comfort from any immediate aspect of the war. In Russia it is a case of loss upon loss, in Italy the word is still retreat, the U-boats have been trounced, and on top of all the British and American bombers continue to come over with their pulverising loads. Small wonder that Hitler could find nothing better with which to cheer the sombre spirits of his countrymen than a venomous threat to pay back the bombing debt. There were other encouragements, chief of which was the hollow claim that in pushing the Western and Eastern Fronts away from the frontiers of the Reich Germany had completed a notable achievement. Hitler chose to ignore the fact that all this had been done before the Democracies were in any shape to prevent it. Shorn of these contemptible efforts to put a good face on a critical state of affairs, the speech stands revealed as the vicious mouthings of a man whose policy is bankrupt of all save the determination to sell his life, and those of his fellow criminals, dearly, and to drag down with him into the abyss the people who were witless enough to allow him to snatch power.
Whatever else the speech means it means that there is to be no easy way out for Germany this time. The cold ferocity of Hitler’s references to the waverers on the home front was unmistakeable. They are held in a Gestapo grip which will make them hang on to the bitter end, stifling every feeling save the numb, instinctive urge to perform to the last the behests of an iron master. In his Mansion House address Mr. Churchill showed his recognition of the effects of this Nazi fanaticism, He made it clear that any sudden and speedy collapse can only be looked for as a windfall. The likelier development is a stern and bloody climax when, on ground and at a time of their own choosing, the Anglo-American hosts are hurled in for the kill next year. The Prime Minister further hinted at wild and desperate reactions from the Germans before retribution overtook them. These were naturally unspecified, but might they not take the form of paratroop raids in force, or some new form of aerial bombardment? We have to be on our guard. The danger increases as zero-hour approaches. Nor must we blind ourselves to the dour way in which the German armies continue to fight while all goes against them, In Russia they have performed marvels of extrication, and in proportion to the forces engaged the tally of prisoners they have lost is small. In the days of our own defeats much was blamed on lack of air cover. In Italy the Luftwaffe has been routed, but the Nazi soldiery, though on the retreat, have not. While ever National Socialism holds sway within the Reich (and what can unseat it?)
There can be only one way of ending the war, and that is by the complete and crushing defeat of the German armies in battle; a grim necessity, but possibly one with a notable bearing on the peace.