THE STARS AND STRIPES
Daily Newspaper of U.S. Armed Forces in the European Theater of Operation
London, England Tuesday, March 16, 1943
Axis Bombs Patriots
In French Mountains
As Rebellion Spreads
GrowingRefoel Force
Spurns Ultimatum
To Surrender
German bombers attacked French guerrillas in the mountains near the
Swiss border last night after an ultimatum to " surrender or die " expired
at sunset.
Firmly entrenched, armed with rifles, machine-guns and 75-mm. field
pieces, the rebellious French youths numbered more than 1,000, with their
numbers constantly growing.
A report from Algiers radio said three German planes had been shot down by
the guerrillas, who are led by Gen. Armand Cartier and a group of former
officers and non-coms of the French Army.
The patriots gathered at Saint Gringolph, on the shores of the Lake of
Geneva and only a few miles from Geneva, Switzerland, several days a«o.
The original group numbered less than 500, but word of their decision to fight
it out rather than submit to the German labor conscription orders brought recruits
hurrying to the mountain hideouts.
SS Troops En Route
Nazis Fight
Desperately
ForSmolensk
Reds 40 Miles from City;
Berlin Says Kharkov
Is Captured
By the United Press
The Germans hurled large forces of tanks and motorized infantry into
the battles on the central front in Russia* yesterday to stop the Red
thrust toward the Nazis greatest supply base in Russia—Smolensk.
The nearest Russian spearheads were reported last night to be less than 60
miles from Smolensk.
The Germans repeated yesterday their claim to have taken Kharkov, and
Moscow admitted that the situation there was extremely crucial and that on one
sector the Russian troops had been withdrawn.
The Germans admitted that the Russians were now counter-attacking
west of Byelgorod.
Resistance Stiffens
Berlin and Moscow Both Warn
That Allied Invasion Is Coming
Germany was warned yesterday by both yesterday, Dr. Brenning, Nazi radio corn-
Berlin and Moscow radio that" a gigantic
assault is coming " from the Allies and that a landing of British and American
troops on the continent is expected by the German High Command.
Evacuation of coastal areas in France, Belgium, Holland and Norway, Moscow
radio said, is proof that German authorities know the blow is coming. The
Russian radio pointed out that the tempo of the air offensive against German
industrial centers from England-based bombers has increased tremendously.
Hitler has no chance of victory against the combined might of Soviet Russia,
Great Britain and the United States, Moscow radio concluded
Nazis May Spring Surprise
To Avert an Allied Invasion
By H. E. Salisbury
United Press Staff Writer
More and more serious consideration is being given the possibility the
Germans may launch one more surprise against the Allies in an effort to
avert the Second Front this year and give the Wehrmacht a last chance to
crush the Red Army.
The Nazi endeavour obviously would be to prolong the war indefinitely
and give themselves at least a chance for a stalemate or a negotiated peace
terms which the Roosevelt-Churchill Casa blanca statement precludes. If the Nazis
could present the establishment of a real
fighting front in western Europe this year, the general staff could muster their last
resources in the hope that the Red Army, weakened by the powerful winter offensive,
would finally be defeated in the " battle of annihilation " which Hitler has
been striving for ever since June, 1941. The only trouble with this analysis of
possible Wehrmacht plans is that their alternatives are strictly limited. However,
these possibilities appear to be open:
1—Introduction of gas bombing against the civilian population of Britain and gas
shelling on the Russian and African fronts,
2—Large-scale air attacks against Britain designed to disrupt Allied offensive
plans.
3—" Super " commando attacks, of the Dieppe variety, on Britain, possibly
accompanied by paratroop actions designed for the same purpose.
4—An invasion of Spain or Turkey or both in an effort to force the Allies to
fight in the remote African theater instead of the relatively close European front.
5—Some combination or modification of the four main alternatives.
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