29 SEPTEMBER 1939, Page 6

It is very difficult to measure the possibilities of serious

dissensions in Germany, and the temptation to exaggerate scattered rumours may easily inspire false hopes. The state of the country cannot be good, but there is no justification yet for regarding it as grave. From a good German source I have gathered some rough impressions, which are probably so far as they go correct. There is a strong undercurrent of hostility to the regime, consisting less of Communists than of Socialists, but the activity of the Gestapo makes any effective organisation almost impossible. Many prominent personalities in the movement, including a number of officers, have been shot. At the opposite extreme are the Conservatives, whom the alliance with Russia profoundly shocks. Strongly backed by the army, and distinct from, and to some extent a rival to, Nazi-ism, is a Pan-German movement of which not a great deal has been heard outside Germany. It is less dangerous than Nazi-ism in that it has no desire to embrace non-Germans, but not much less hostile to Great Britain, which it charges with thwarting. Germany's legitimate aspirations. One conclusion emerges from all this, that no real unity exists in Germany today. Open fissures may not reveal themselves yet, but a hard winter will gravely accentuate discontents.