OCR Text |
Show Itelt-ased by Western Newspaper Union. iu:rf. is a 'GL'kss' on kni) of the war I WAS IN Europe when the Germans Ger-mans quit in 1918. For three months before that historic November 11, I had been on the British, French and American fronts as the Germans were driven steadily backward. I saw the joy with which German soldiers sol-diers were captured, the eagerness with which they cried "Kamerad." I saw a German plane land on an American airfield and two German pilots step out with their hands in the air. They deliberately deserted and surrendered because they had had enough. The German army of 1918 could dish it out when things were going well for Germany. That army could not take it when forced to retreat, instead in-stead of advance. Morale was gone and the army collapsed. I have offered a guess that the war in Europe will be over by June 1 of this year. That guess is based on what I saw in 1918. The German soldier can be a hero only so long as things go his way. He cannot stand reverses. The severe winter, plus the hard-hitting Russian army, can be counted on to provide reverses re-verses for the Germans joii the Eastern East-ern front. The American and British Brit-ish land, air and naval forces will provide reverses on the African and western European fronts. I believe these things will break the morale of the German army and that army will quit before any of the land troops of the United Nations set foot on German soil. NO MOOD FOR ARMISTICE But the governments of the United Nations are in no mood for an armistice. armis-tice. People demand an unconditional uncondi-tional surrender, with an army of occupation to occupy all enemy countries coun-tries and the acceptance of such terms as may be specified by the victors. May those terms be such as to prevent the rise of a militaristic militaris-tic Germany and prevent for all time any second edition of Hitler. We need to give the German people a taste of what an army of occupation occupa-tion means to them as individuals. It would be well if it might be a fighting army that did not stop until it had captured Berlin, but it will be hard to fight a people if they will not fight back, and the German army is too yellow to continue to fight when it knows it is licked. In the meantime, we must keep up that ever-increasing flow of men, munitions and money. We cannot afford to hesitate for an instant until the last shot has been fired. After Germany, we have Japan to finish up. ... WAR HAS NOT DULLED FAITH OF OUR SOLDIERS I SPENT a recent week-end in a ! hotel in one of the large cities. That j hotel was filled with men of the na- tion's armed services. In it is a ; long lounge room, the walls of which are covered with beautiful oil 1 paintings. There are landscapes and J seascapes, pictures of old castles, ! of ships, of dancing girls and of fes- j tivities. But the one picture which ' attracted the attention of those fighting fight-ing men of ours was entitled "Faith." It was a picture of an elderly mother, moth-er, sitting beside the cook stove in a modest cottage kitchen. On her , lap lay the Bible and on her face 1 was a serene peace and confidence that was the very essence of faith. Of the many masterful paintings, that is the one before which those fighting men gathered and about which they talked. Jt symbolized for them that Christian civilization for which they are fighting, and the home and family, the peace and faith, to which they hope to return. That interest was an omen of the future of our America. We will continue con-tinue to be in the future, as in the past, a Christian nation. War has not dulled the faith of our fighting men. BOMBING OF GERMANY PAYS DIVIDENDS The Allied nations, and Russia especially, are profiting this year from the bombing of Germany which England did a year ago. The plane and tank and munitions plants then destroyed have meant less equipment for German armies this year. Those bombings did constitute consti-tute a practical second front. Equipment, Equip-ment, transportation, food and manpower man-power are the essentials of war. The last, manpower, is valueless without the other three. The more of Germany's Ger-many's equipment-producing plants and her transportation facilities are desiroyed by British and American bombers, the more quickly will the war be over. An airplane plant destroyed de-stroyed is as valuable as a battle won. ASIDE FROM THOSE in the armed forces of the nation, there is no one class so much entitled to oui appreciation for the war effort they are making as the American farmers. farm-ers. They do not count hours. They do not strike for higher prices. They do not curtail production by slowing down. Despite lack of help, ade- ' quate tires and gasoline, and needed need-ed machinery replacements, they slay on the job of producing more and ever more food, that our men of the armed forces and we on the home front may be fed. |