Last Line of Defense

Notes of pessimism from Festung Europa:

> Said Bruesseler Zeitung: "It would be madness to say that the situation has not grown worse during the past month. The Italians always say openly how bad the situation is, and the Germans must say so too. All conditions which favored the Axis before now favor the Allies. Never before has Germany been in greater danger."

Gauleiter Hoffman of hard-hit Westphalia took the stand last week to counteract rumors of destruction and death circulating in the Ruhr. Said he: "It is claimed, for instance, that Hans Fritsche [official radio commentator] said in a broadcast that 10% of the armament industry has been destroyed in a raid on Dortmund. Fritsche said no such thing. This also applies to the catastrophe of the Moehne Dam. Twenty and 40 thousand were mentioned as the number of fatal casualties. The true figures were published. ... It is a deplorable fact . . . but we can admit it quite frankly. . . ."

To the Allies, such revelations of growing pessimism and opposition among the German people might seem strange and indicative of trickery. But the fact was that German propagandists, like German militarists, were setting up their last and toughest line of defense. For the all-out battle which they expected, nothing less than the truth could serve as a weapon--for the German people had learned the truth at Stalingrad and in Tunisia.

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