"General OSHIMA tells the Fuehrer that Japan had fought under similarly difficult conditions, when Nanking was bombed and the pilots had orders to spare the foreign legations under all circumstances. This was an impossible restraint for the pilots. It was infinitely fortunate, the Fuehrer continues, that now he could relieve the men in the submarines of the re¬sponsibility and now once more bore it himself. "On the remaining front there now came the winter standstill. Unfortunately a temperature drop of 38° had occurred right in the middle of the development of a big operation. Any operation ceases at such a temperature. Besides the burden for the individual man of fighting in this cold weather, there is the trouble with the motorized vehicles. Above all, ho..ever, the automatic weapons would not operate any more. Of course some operations would be completed. First, Sevastopol must be taken; the prepara¬tions for this were almost concluded. Then, the siege of Leningrad would be continued, and third, he hoped soon to be able to resume the operations in the direction of the Caucasus. He must align the remaining sectors of the Eastern front on as a short a line as possible, correspond-ing approximately to a straight line from Leningrad to Taganrog. This would then give him the possibility of withdrawing the motorized and armored units and the best infantry divisions, in order to freshen them up during the winter. Large-scale operations would then be resumed in the spring.