July, 1944

General Eisenhower's prediction that the war in Europe would be won this year began to look more like a strict calculation than a wishful forecast. Germany's outlook was far blacker in July 1944 than it was in July 1918, when her last grand offensive had barely been stopped.

The Reich's dread of a two-front war had become a staggering reality of three, with more to follow if the Allies decided that more amphibious attacks on the Continent were necessary. The Allies' breakthrough of the Atlantic Wall had been followed by an even greater disaster in the east.

From the beginning of the new Russian drive, Germany had achieved nothing but disaster (See Battle of Russia). This was the front where the Germans had hoped to hold the line while they dealt with the invaders from the west. The measure of their strength in 1944's crucial summer was that the Russians, from the first day of the new offensive, had burst shatteringly through their defenses in one of the worst defeats Germany had suffered on the eastern front since Stalingrad.

Around and AboveEurope. In the south the Germans were still bleeding from the series of defeats which had begun in North Africa. From Cassino on, they had been badly hacked and routed, had then pulled themselves together. But in Italy, as on all their other fronts, there was no longer any hope of another great offensive.

Their troops on all fronts were tired, mournfully seeded with ragtag & bobtail levies from the conquered countries of Europe. The troops they faced were well-trained, superbly equipped and by now better fighting machines, weight for weight, than the Reich could muster.

And hovering over all German soldiers was the crushing weight of Allied air power, which knocked out railroads and highway bridges, chewed up communications, shot up retreating columns and smashed industries vital to the war. Prudent Allied military men could speculate on what the Luftwaffe was going to do to stop it. The German soldier on the ground, not bound by such caution, could come to only one conclusion: the Luftwaffe was just about out of business.

Oil, Metal and Men. Oil and metals were running short in Germany. The Nazi Air Force and Army were reported squabbling for the available supply, even in such critical areas as the surging Normandy front. Chromium and manganese were desperately short, the nickel from tottering Finland might soon be lost to the Reich's thoroughly battered industrial machine.

Even the supply of human material was dwindling. In six weeks Germany had lost an estimated 280,000 soldiers (not including losses at Minsk). Troops needed at the fronts had to remain in the hinterlands like Denmark (see FOREIGN NEWS) and southern France, where the underground tide was rising.

Even Adolf Hitler seemed to feel that the black days had come. Cried he last week: "How could a struggle which has behind it all the fanaticism of a nation end otherwise than in victory, quite irrespective of what the situation may be at the moment?"

The Allies had the answer to that: more and better troops, better material, plenty of supplies, complete superiority in every phase of war. Germany would fight on, desperately and skillfully. Allied casualty lists would grow. But at last, whether it was months or weeks away, the end seemed in sight.

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