Roosevelt death to spur last-ditch stand by Nazis
Hitler expected to seize on event to demand just a little more resistance by followers
PARIS (UP) – A senior officer at Allied Supreme Headquarters said today that the death of President Roosevelt would encourage a German withdrawal into “national redoubts” in the northern port area or the Southern Alps.
Such a movement, in apparent preparation for a last-ditch stand, has been evident for several weeks. But it is believed that not all Nazis were convinced they would win anything from a long-drawn-out suicide stand.
It is believed that Adolf Hitler’s strategists may view the death of President Roosevelt as weakening the bond among Britain, Russia, and the United States.
Hope to escape justice
The Allied officer pointed out that Berlin repeatedly has denounced Mr. Roosevelt as the man who welded the three major Allied powers against Germany and the Nazis may feel that there is a greater chance now of a falling-out among Allied powers which would give the Nazis a chance to escape justice if they held out long enough.
Therefore, they are driving their forces at top speed, first north of a line running roughly from Emden east to Luebeck, secondly into a resistance zone running from the Black Forest of Germany to Prague, Czechoslovakia.
Kiel, former headquarters of the German Grand Fleet, would be the capital of the northern “redoubt” and Berchtesgaden, Hitler’s hideout, would be the capital of the southern.
Without commenting upon the merits of the Nazi belief of the effects of Mr. Roosevelt’s death, it obviously is the kind of occurrence which Hitler and Nazi Propaganda Minister Goebbels would seize upon as an excuse to demand just a little more resistance by their followers.
According to some observers here, in the beginning Hitler’s demand for protracted resistance was based on the claim that Nazi inventors soon would bring new weapons from their laboratories to change the face of the war and to nullify Allied superiority in manpower and weapons.
Plants smashed
As the battle of Germany roared to a climax, more and more of the laboratories and factories which might have produced a new weapon were reduced to ashes. Hitler’s weapon argument lost its punch.
At the same time, German desertions increased manyfold. Prisoners admitted their high hopes for the effect from a new weapon were shattered.
The tragedy of Mr. Roosevelt’s death gives Hitler something new to use.
“Fight a little longer,” he will say. “Soon our enemies will be quarreling with one another. Perhaps we can escape the trap. Only keep fighting.”
