The Pittsburgh Press (March 30, 1943)
Allies mass huge forces for invasion
Landings in Europe due to follow Axis rout from Tunisia
By John A. Parris, United Press staff writer
We’re coming, Adolf, right into the heart of your European fortress. The impending Allied invasion of Europe probably will be in two main attacks, constituting a great pincer against Germany from Norway (1) and Greece (2), with diversionary thrusts from England into France and the Lowland (A), and from Africa into Italy (B).
London, England –
Britain, the United States and Canada are massing gigantic land, sea and air striking forces for invasions of Europe to follow quickly on the Axis rout from Tunisia, Allied observers said today.
The main Allied landings, they believed, may be made in Norway and Greece, with possible diversionary thrusts across the English Channel and North Sea into France, Belgium and Holland and across the Mediterranean into Italy.
Plan ‘invasions’
Prime Minister Winston Churchill has already disclosed that the Allies are preparing to launch “invasions” – and it was noteworthy that he used the word in the plural – this year. Men and war machines are pouring into Britain from North America in endless streams and a similar constant flow is probably being maintained to North Africa, the base for any invasion of Southern Europe.
The attacks, if they are made through Norway and Greece, would probably constitute a great pincer movement directed at Germany herself. Any landing in Norway would be a potential threat to the great German naval bases of Wilhelmshaven and Kiel and might force Axis warships to abandon the Baltic to avoid being bottled up there, thus giving Soviet warships free rein.
Should the Allies invade Greece, they would find guerilla forces waiting to joint them in the march through Yugoslavia and other occupied countries to Berlin.
Nazis show tension
The Germans have shown ample evidence of their concern over impending invasions and in particular their fear that forces will land in Norway and Greece.
Private advices reaching Norwegian sources in London said Adolf Hitler has asked for another 35,000 Norwegian workers to construct additional fortifications at Narvik and Tromsø, two of the principal Norwegian ports at which British and French troops landed in a futile attempt to throw out occupying German forces in April 1940.
The Germans are also reported to have heavily fortified the Greek coast as well as mountain passes inland.
Hitler’s engineers were likewise reported to be supervising the construction of defenses in Italy, Romania, Austria, Yugoslavia and Albania.
Or airborne?