LONDON: “The number of German soldiers, writes St. Galler Tagblatt, who do not return to the front when their period of leave is up has increased so acutely in recent weeks that a special section of the military police is now dealing with cases of desertion,” cables the Daily Telegraph Zurich correspondent.

“In big towns today there are agencies which furnish deserters with clothes, false identity papers, railway tickets and so forth...”

But on the whole, it is relatively a small number who find the desperate courage to desert the colours, says the paper. “Nothing is stronger in Germany today than a yearning for peace at almost any price.” Hopes were long placed in new secret weapons but “today this dream has faded”. Even if the “wonder weapon” became a reality, it would not be credited with the capability of changed the war situation in Germany’s favour.

The most discussed question in Germany is not “will we win the war?”, but “how much longer is all this going to last?”

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2019