The Clutch

In the House of Commons Winston Churchill brushed off a few crumbs of optimism. Previously he had said that the knockout of Germany "may" require a few months of 1945. Last week, back from his Moscow conference, he said: "I certainly cannot predict--still less guarantee--the end of the German war before the end of spring, or even before we reach early summer."

This week in Moscow Comrade Stalin said, "Germany is on the verge of catastrophe . . . [Russia will] raise the banner of victory over Berlin ... in the near future." But the talk around London after Churchill's return was that Stalin, a man who never seems to hurry, had his eye on next summer. The Red armies had jarred to a stop last week among the bristling defenses of East Prussia.

Explaining the reasons for the Allied bog-down in Italy (see below), General Alexander said he could not see an end to the war before next year. General Eisenhower had not publicly altered his prediction made last Christmas and repeated in August that 1944 could bring the end--but, as the Supreme Commander, he had a right to change his mind without saying so.

The Germans had put on a brilliant performance in the battle of supply. They ceased to threaten the port of Antwerp last week (see below), but for two months they had stood off the British and Canadians on its approaches. They had ruined Le Havre, Marseille, Salonika. Hundreds of miles behind the main battle line, they still had no less than 100,000 troops in Dunkirk, Saint-Nazaire, La Rochelle, Lorient, the Channel Islands, and Royan (covering Bordeaux). Where German soil was threatened, they fought like wildcats.

Nevertheless the momentum of war was so inexorably against them that their plight was worse than ever. The air offensive against the Reich was stepping up to new levels of destruction; the Luftwaffe could challenge only at intervals, and every time it did, it got its ears pinned back. On one flaming day of battle last week the German air force lost 208 planes.

The Germans could not hold everywhere : their collapse in Hungary meant that the Danube approach to Austria had become a fourth crusher point against the Reich (see map). Eisenhower in the west and Stalin in the east had the superiority in manpower, material and generalship to wear out the enemy quickly when they brought their full weight to bear.

To German civilians, the cold of winter brought the icy clutch of deepening fear.

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