Simms: Rumors flood Washington in lieu of news
Story of Big Three adds more material
By William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard foreign editor
WASHINGTON – Washington today is a city of rumor. It reminds me of Paris during those 11 hectic days of November preceding the armistice of 1918.
The simultaneous release here, in London and in Moscow of the first official announcement of the meeting between President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Marshal Stalin in the Black Sea area. has served to increase the flood.
Envoys with European pipelines are convinced that peace forces inside Germany are already moving to dispense with Hitler and organize some kind of setup for dealing with an ultimatum expected at any time from the Big Three.
Hitler support wanes
According to these sources, Hitler is rapidly losing his support save for the Himmlers, the Goebbels and the fanatical Nazis who already feel the noose closing about their necks and who have everything to lose by surrender.
As for the rest, an increasing number of Germans – including many generals – are desperately seeking an out which would save at least something from the inevitable wreck.
Some informed diplomats are convinced that Berlin may be invested or occupied by the Red Army within the next few days. They also expect an Allied breakthrough to the Rhine and beyond within an equally short time.
Officials won’t talk
American officials are not quite so inclined to talk. They were badly burned last fall when their forecasts of an early end of the European war proved to be erroneous. Overoptimism at that time led to decreased war production and there were stories of ammunition shortages on the Western Front. Then came the Nazi counterattack and a news blackout which gave this country one of the gloomiest Christmases since Pearl Harbor. So nobody wants to be blamed for any more of that sort of national disillusionment.
Nevertheless, the impression in diplomatic circles here is that the crackup of Germany cannot be delayed much longer. While resistance may continue for some time after the fall of Berlin, few experts believe Hitler and his fanatics can hope to defy the Allies indefinitely.
Three invincible machines
So far as the Russians, the Americans and the British are concerned it is observed, they will continue to have, in being, the invincible war machine. After Berlin falls however, and with all the other principal industrial and communication centers, the Wehrmacht will be through as an integrated machine. The best Germany could hope for would be to keep up, for a while, a sort of guerrilla resistance which the Allies could and doubtless would crush probably within a comparatively short period.
Another widely credited report here is that most of the military leaders in Germany are in contact with the generals of the Free Germany Committee headed by Field Marshal von Paulus at Moscow. These officers have been telling their colleagues inside the Reich to cease the struggle and save their country from destruction.
These are just some of the rumors current here. Obviously, no war is ever until the last shot is fired. Every intelligent military leader knows that overconfidence is one of the most fatal of all mistakes. The last, dying bite of a wounded beast can be the most dangerous and most painful. Which is why one observer remarked: “The situation is too widely promising for speculation.”
