German nerves tautened.
¶The High Command ordered the word catastrophe eliminated from all military reports and "the vocabulary in general."
¶Astrology, verboten two years ago, lured a growing clandestine interest. The Nazi press complained that Germans paid more attention to astrologers' prophecies than to Government communiques.
¶When a Finnish professor discovered a minor new comet, immemorial portent of war, famine and pestilence, the Berlin radio gave hurried reassurance: "These comets have their rational explanation. There is no need to have cold shivers running over your spine."
¶Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels invited German mobs to lynch downed Allied airmen. "It is too much to ask of...
