'no compelling reason to sUFpose that the opposition would have succeeded if'unconditonal surrender' had never been announced+ Nor can we say what was its effect on the country, for there is no way of showing that it deterred any Germans from surrendering who would have surrendered otherwise. It had no demonstrable effect on the German troops in North Africa or in France, many of whom were taken prisoner without bothering about condi tions; nor, in the last resort, on those in Italy or Germany ... It is possible that Goeb bels' propaganda on the subject stimulated the Germans to fight on and to produce more. It is also possible that they would have done so anyway."