The Pittsburgh Press (October 17, 1944)
Kirkpatrick: Chance good for defeat of Nazis in 1944
Germany faces loss of 2,250,000 men
By Helen Kirkpatrick
Paris, France –
There is still a better than even chance that Germany will be defeated before the end of this year, or at least that all organized resistance by the German Army will have been overcome in that time.
According to German estimates, some 800,000 Nazi troops have been killed, wounded or captured in France since our landing June 6. But overall, the Germans must reckon with a loss of 2,250,000 men removed as effective soldiers from the defense of the Reich.
Many troops cut off
In addition to the 800,000 figure of casualties and prisoners, many thousands of Wehrmacht fighters are pinned down in French ports. There are another 150,000 in Norway and Denmark, which the Germans seem ready to write off. There are 100,000 cut off in Finland, 150,000 in the Mumel–Riga area cut off by the Russians, and 150,000 in the Balkans, unable to retreat into Germany.
The Germans have lost the effective use of some 30 divisions of Hungarian and Bulgarian shock troops. They have about 300,000 men tied up in Italy.
Red threat from south
The Russian drive through Hungary threatens southern Germany as the Allied troops on the Western Front constitute a grave menace to Germany’s industry in the Ruhr and Rhineland. Vienna has been converted into one of the principal centers of German war industry since Allied Air Forces started ranging across Europe. With the Russians at the gates of Budapest, Vienna is only 120 miles away up the Danube Valley.
Once the Russian advance up the Danube begins, Germany risks being cut in two from both east and west. It may be presumed that an Allied breakthrough on the Western Front will be attempted. If it comes in the north, across the Dutch border, the Allies will enter the heart of the industrial Ruhr. If it comes in the 1st Army area, a foothold on the eastern bank of the Rhine will be established, if it comes in the Belfort region, the Americans could join up with the Russians driving from Vienna and cut off Württemberg and Bavaria.
Face trap in Italy
Once the Russians have reached Vienna, they will have outflanked the Brenner Pass and taken the first step toward encirclement of the Germans in northern Italy.
According to “Gen. Hoffman” of the “German Freedom Radio,” there is nothing between the Rhine defenses and Berlin save Götterdämmerung Divisions – the equivalent of the British Home Guard. These divisions are made up of teenage boys and old men, equipped with spades and shovels.
Spades against artillery
He asked the Germans last night:
How? Do you expect to defend the Fatherland with spades against American artillery?
There are numerous factors which enter into the picture – the weather and the long supply lines on both the Eastern and Western Fronts and these may prolong the campaign through the winter, but if the Allies in the west are as successful in breaking through the outer crust of the German defense to the eastern bank of the Rhine, as the Russians have been in the east. Germany may well be defeated by the end of the year.