HITLER WILL ATTEMPT A LAST STAND
SEELY, Lt. Comdr. C. S.
Hitler Will Attempt A Last Stand By LT. COMDR. C. S. SEELY ALLIED victories in Europe have lately been so vast in scope that their effect on Germany cannot easily be estimated. But it is my guess...
...The Nazis are now—or soon will be—favored by natural and man-made barriers, which will make their problems somewhat easier...
...In spiteof all his recent losses Hitler probably still has at least 5,000,000 soldiers...
...Of course, these are not first rate troops, as the cream of Hitler's army has long since been killed off, but that many men of any kind behind strong barricades make a formidable obstacle...
...The opinions and assertions expressed above are the private ones of the writer and are not to be construed as official or reflecting the views of the Navy Department or the naval service at large...
...Hitler almost certainly will make a desperate, "all out" stand everywhere near the west German border, just as he is now making such a stand on the East Prussian border...
...But he is now pulling his men into his citadel, therefore we must not allow our recent successes to blind us to the probability that the going may become much rougher...
...It is true that the outer walls of Hitler's "Fortress Europe" are now badly broken, but even so the strongest part of that fortress, the main citadel (Germany, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Western Poland) has hardly been touched...
...The strongest of these barriers are in the West, facing us, but at least two-thirds of all the Nazi manpower face the Red Army...
...That is, the Nazis may not crack up until there is a revolt behind their lines...
...But it is my guess that even though Hitler has been greatly weakened, there is yet much hard fighting to be done...
...And since that army is gaining in strength Hitler cannot send any part of his eastern forces to meet our attack...
...It would seem that unless a great Russian force breaks into Germany or Hungary, Hitler may be able to hold out until the German people themselves rise up against him...
...Allied propaganda aimed at the German masses will now serve us better than ever before...
...No doubt one of the chief reasons why the United Nations have lately been wrecking so much of the Nazi army is that Hitler did not start soon enough to withdraw from non-vital defense areas...
...Millions of pamphlets, explaining why Germans should now sabotage the Nazi war machine, dropped all over Germany should now be almost as effective as bombs...
...For this reason it would seem that a war of attrition would be best for us...
Vol. 8 • September 1944 • No. 38
