Assault, with a Grain of Salt

Were the Russians really rocking the Germans back on their heels? Or had the Germans withdrawn their striking power, possibly for a blow elsewhere, possibly for much-needed recuperation? There were hints that the answer to both of these questions was yes.

Off of Moscow. The Germans admitted that Russian forces had "penetrated their eastern defenses at several points." This was an extraordinary change of tone from the usual Nazi dismissals of Soviet claims.

The tone of the words which Adolf Hitler used (see p. 12) and made Joseph Goebbels use (see p. 23) last week was extraordinarily changed. Once they ranted and vaunted. Now they begged and whimpered.

Germany's Transocean News Service issued a scholarly dissertation on trench warfare: "The front line in trench war fare is generally shortened to economize strong forces, which can then be held in reserve, simultaneously enjoying certain rest. ... In view of the huge area that Russia presents, it is quite immaterial whether the German forces establish their positions 50 or 60 kilometers east or west." On to Berlin! From Moscow via Stock holm came news that Joseph Stalin had called together his highest war chiefs and told them to press their advantage, to roll the Germans on & on, to defeat them on their own blood-dry soil. Since it took the German central Armies five great battles to get within field-glass view of Moscow, it was not likely that the Russians would now be able to surge in one unbroken wave to Stettin, Frankfurt-an-der-Oder and Breslau. This first happy plunge would necessarily wear itself out. Whether an other would succeed it was the crucial question.

Debris. Foreign correspondents were taken by the Russians to see with their own eyes how well the drive was going. As usual, New York Times's Cyrus L. Sulzberger painted the most vivid picture of the Russian effort: "White-helmeted infantrymen armed with automatic rifles and dragging metal ammunition cases be hind them on the snow, shuffling ski troops, cavalrymen on heavily furred horses, with rifles strapped to their backs and brass-handled sabers rattling by their sides, tractor-drawn supply sleighs and powerful howitzers, long columns of tanks and caterpillar troop carriers slogging past the wrecked debris of recent battles. . . ."

Both Sides. By last week the Russians had unquestionably made substantial geographical gains (see map), but they had claimed no prisoners. They definitely claimed superiority in the air, but admitted that large German air forces had been withdrawn from the front. The Russians claimed that deep snows were confining the Germans, like Napoleon, to the roads, and that Red Cavalry, like the Cossacks of 1812. were constantly harassing the highway-bound, rear-bound enemy; and yet the Russians admitted that they were meeting little but rear-guard resistance.

In short, the Germans had planned a withdrawal after the defeat at Moscow.

The Russians were now making the retreat much hotter for them than the shivering Germans liked.

"Pursue the enemy untiringly," ordered the Soviets' Central Commander, General Georgi K. Zhukov. "Give him no respite. Do not permit him to reorganize his defenses or fortify new defense lines. Death to the German occupants!"

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