The Ypsilanti Daily Press

New York, Feb. 5—INS—The possibility that Adolf Hitler may be dead and that a weakening German military machine might resort to poison gas and bacteriological warfare, was advanced today by Joseph E. Davies, former U. S. ambassador to Russia.

Speaking on a nation-wide broadcast Davies interpreted the absence of a Hitler address on the recent 10th anniversary of the Nazi party's rise to power and the present funeral pall over the Reich as evidence that Hitler has died.

"These days of mourning and grief in Germany, supposedly because of the Stalingrad defeat, and the fact that Hitler did not make his 10th anniversary speech last week, suggests the possibility that Hitler is dead," Davies declared.

A speaker on the "March of Time" program Davies warned, however, that even if the Nazi leader has passed on, his ideology still lives in the hearts and minds of the German people.

"The Nazi party with its industrial Fascists and military leaders is still alive," he declared. "These elements which have destroyed the liberties of half of Europe and started two world wars in 25 years make Germany a menace to every other nation in the world and even though Hitler were dead, the desperation of the German people fed by Goebbels' propaganda on the horror of a United Nations' victory will sustain the German war machine."

Predicting a desperate German attempt to seize the Baku oil fields in Russia next summer, Davies said that if this effort fails, the defeated Nazi army "will wall itself in a defensive fight behind the ramparts of Europe and will undoubtedly resort to poison gas and bacteriological warfare."

However, he said that overwhelming Allied air superiority, properly directed, might bring a conclusive United Nations victory before the end of this year.