Dr. Benes' Hopes
Dr. Benes is a man of balanced judgement and a realist, and by no means prone to easy-going optimism. When, therefore, in a broadcast to his countrymen on the Czechoslovak National Day, he gives precise facts, some of them obtained indirectly through a quisling agent, we know that he is not speaking from mere wishful thinking. He said that up to the end of August more than 4,000,000 Germans had been killed or wounded, the latter including only those who will not be fit again for military service. He spoke of the serious defects in German transport, and his words are borne out by the difficulties the enemy are experiencing in getting supplies to the Russian fronts, and their feverish efforts to make the utmost use of coastal traffic in spite of its dangers. He said that the food situa- tion now was as it was at the end of 1957, and we know that that was one of the factors which led to the collapse in 1918. Dissensions among the leaders and generals do not necessarily indicate break- down, but are at least an indication of the fact of the growing realisa- tion in Germany that she will soon be compelled by events to pass from the offensive to the defensive. These facts taken together do not mean that the end is near, but do mean that the course of the war is turning the corner or has already done so, and that the United Nations may press on with confidence against an enemy weaker than he was and still weakening.
