Evening star., 1939-03-26
TWELVE PAGES.
Soviet to Fight if Ukraine
Is Invaded, Observers Say
And Military Experts Refuse to Guess Winner of
Possible War Between Russia
and Nazi Germany
By Joseph H. Baird
BY Joseph II. Baird.

Inc Third Retch'S push toward the
East hous brought the steel-helmeted
troops of Germany within striking dis
tance Of the Promised Land of Hitlerian
lore-the lush, waving wheat fields and
the rich coal and maganese mines of
the Soviet Ukraine.
A mere hundred miles separates the
tip Of Ruthenia from the frontiers of
the U. S. S. R. Driving either through
Rumania or Poland, motorized troops
might easily cover the distance between
sunrise and sunset. And while Ru-
thenia, the easternmost tip of the late
Czecho-Slovakian Republic, technically
Is held by Hungary, the worlds foreign
offices know well that the Budapest gov
ernment is only broker for Der Fueh-
rer. German troops may push through
at will when Berlin determines that
the time has arrived for carrying out
the next phase of the Drang Mach Osten
policy
Will Germany thrust a steel wedge
into the Ukraine now? Or will Hitler,
as some European observers believe, for
get Eastern Europe for while, and
concentrate on regaining the overseas
colonies that Germany lost in the World
War?
May Team With Stain.
Is it true that Der Fuehrer, as some
Journalists in Europe have reported, may
not attempt to push his conquest into
Russia at all, but rather seek an agree
ment with Joseph Stain for joint,
peaceful domination of Eastern Europe
and an alliance against Great Britain
and France?
These questions are foremost in the
minds of statesmen in Washington, Lon
don, Paris, Moscow and other non
Fascist capitals this week.
: Meanwhile, the answers are written in
black and white in that ponderous tome
the world has come to know so well of
1ate-"Mein Kampf." The human mind
is changeable, and so the time may
come-possibly has come-when Hitler
will divert his path of action from the
lines drawn in this book. But so far he
has not done so. In every phase of both
domestic and foreign policy he has fol-
lowed the doctrines of "Mein Kampf"
with the faithfulness of a religious zealot.
Outlining his basic policy of expan-
sion, Hitler wrote:
I'VE National put an end to
the pre-war tendencies of our foreign
policy. We begin the work where it was
lett OIL 600 years ago. We stem the
eternal Germanic migration to the South
and West of Europe, and direct our eyes
toward the land in the East. We finally
terminate the pre-war colonial and trade
policy and move over to the land policy
. Of the future.
However, If we speak today in Europe
Of new land and soil, we can primarily
think only Of Russia and the border
states that are subject to her."
Touches on Russian Alliance.
Again, regarding Russian-G German
alliance, Hitler wrote:
1T Is simply impossible to attack with
coalition of cripples a powerful state
that is firmly determined to risk its last
drop of blood for the sake of its exist
ence.
1--WE must take the very same position
tn regard to Russia. Russia, which at
present has been stripped of its Ger
manic upper stratum is no ally in the
struggle for the independence of the
German nation, aside from all intentions
OF her new masters. From purely mill
,tary standpoint the situation would be
disastrous In the case of war of Ger
many and Russia against Western Eu-
rope, and probably against the rest of
the whole world. The fighting would not
take place on Russian but on German
territory. while Germany could receive
no ef1cacious support from Russia"
One indication that German penetra-
tion OF the Ukraine may come on day
not lar distant may be found in the
recent large movement of japanese
troops toward the Soviet -Manchurian
frontier In adjusting their diplomatic
and military moves the members of the
Rome-Berlin-Tokio axis have displayed
the precise timing of a professional
golfer. The Soviet general staff long has
been convinced that Russia would be
attacked simultaneously by Germany in
the West and Japan in the East. In the
light OF this theory, the concurrent mass
Ing OF German and Japanese troops on
the Soviet Unions opposite borders ap-
pears significant.
What. granted German victory over
Soviet Russia, would Der Fuehrer gain
by planting the swastika in the Soviet
Ukraine?
A Veritable Granary.
The Ukraine, one of the more fertile
parts of Russia, covers an area of about
10000 square miles (making is slightly
larger than California; and has popu-
lation Of 100000 persons (only 5,OO0,-
600 less than England). 1t, together with
ehe olack-earth Volga region, long has
been known as the granary of Russia.
But the wealth of the Ukraine is not
limited to It's waving grain fields. 1t also
has extremely rich deposits of those two
essential elements which, in addition to
Iron. Germany needs sorely as a military
power-coal and manganese, for the
manufacture of steel.
Until recent years, the Ukraine was
almost entirely an agricultural country.
But under the first and second piatalet-
kas Cor five-year plans the Soviet gov
ernment has laid the basis there of
southern industrial empire. On the
Dnetper River, Moscow has built the
giant Dniepropetrovsk hydro-electric
dam, which provides cheap energy for a
number of new factories heino h,,;,+