Civilians Engaged in War Will Not Be Recognized as Military

[Globalization41]

Berlin, By Telephone to The New York
Times, By C. Brooks Peters, Friday, July 11,
1941: Informed quarters in Berlin declared
that the "people's militia," which is being
formed among civilians in Russia, would in all
probability not be recognized as part of the
Soviet Army by the German Command and that
its members would thus be treated as franc-
tireurs -- that means they will be shot. Any
other point of view, it is said here, would be
equivalent to the abolition of all previous legal
interpretations that make sharp distinction
between the military and the civilian
population. [The next day, i.e., the very day
this report appeared in The New York Times,
German S.S. Police Battalions 316 and 322
began shooting an estimated 6,000 Jewish
civilians in a two-day operation near Bialystok.
A few days earlier, close to 10,000 Jewish
men, women, and children were shot near
Brest Litovsk by S.S. Police Battalion 307. ...
Meanwhile, retreating Soviet N.K.V.D. troops
were liquidating political prisoners by the
thousands.] ... ... Berlin, Associated Press,
The New York Times, Friday, July 11, 1941:
The German High Command communique said
today: As previously announced in a special
report, the biggest material and encirclement
battle in world history has now been concluded
with the double battle of Bialystok and Minsk.
We captured 323,898 prisoners [most of whom
would be starved to death i.a.w. Hitler's
orders], including several commanding
generals and division commanders, and 3,332
tanks, 1,809 pieces of artillery, and large
quantities of other weapons were captured or
destroyed. ... Thus the total number of
prisoners captured on the eastern front
increased to more than 400,000. The quantity
of captured or destroyed enemy equipment
increased to 7,615 tanks and 4,423 guns. The
Soviet air force up to date has lost a total of
6,233 planes. ... In the fight against British
supply and shipping our submarines have sunk
four enemy merchantmen totaling 27,600 tons
in the North Atlantic. [The Germans and
British launched air raids against each other in
the Med. and European theatres. The R.A.F.
bombed Naples (Italy) Wed./Thur. night.] ...
... Berlin, United Press, The New York Times,
Friday, July 11, 1941: The death sentence was
extended today to persons found guilty of
operating secret radio stations or listening to
enemy stations. ... ... Berlin, Associated
Press, The New York Times, Friday, July 11,
1941: The German drive eastward from
Bialystok and Minsk has "in several places
come to a standstill briefly," [said the] D.N.B.,
German official news agency, due to the
congestion of roads filled with "the mass of
abandoned, shot-to-pieces, and burned-out
vehicles and tanks." ... This evening an
authorized military commentator placed the
Russian losses in dead and captured at
1,000,000 and asserted that "the military
collapse of Russia is a forgone conclusion."
... ... Berlin, United Press, The New York
Times, Saturday, July 12, 1941: [Late Friday,
U.S. time] German propaganda reporters said
the Dnieper [River] was crossed [by German
armies in the center] just above the junction of
the Dnieper and Drut, [near] Rogachev, 35
miles east of Bobruisk, 115 miles southeast of
Minsk, and 190 miles north of Kiev.

[Stay tuned for late breaking war bulletins.
... Globalization41.]