Evening star., 1941-09-06
Most Russian Wounds
Laid 10 Mortar and
Artillery Fire
Territorial Losses Have
FoiIed to Breok Spirit
Of Red Soldiers
BY A. r. STEELE,
Foreisn Correspondent OF The Star

MOSCOW, Sept. SIN military
hospital today I talked with soldiers
fresh from the front. Only a few
months ago this building was a
school, but now it shelters more
than 400 soldier patients with all
manner of wounds, awaiting redis-
tribution to specialized institutions
deeper in the rear.
The majority of the cases coming
in from the front-perhapS two
thirds of the total-involve wounds
from trench mortar and artillery
fire, I was told by DR.. Michael
Gorzky, the superintendent. The
rest are a mixture of bullet and
bomb cases.
What saw went to confirm the
impressions which had grown in
every contact with the Red Army:
The spirit of the Russian fighting
man is quite unbroken by the ter
ritorial losses his country has suf-
fered.
Alexander Markoff, a wounded
private, was smiling broadly when
I entered his room. He kept smiling
even after the nurse lifted the
blanket and exposed the stump that
was his leg.
"Oh that" he said. That cost
the German eight men. got it In
a Fascist parachute attack. And
it's going to cost the Nazis more be-
cause I'm returning to the front If
they'll have me"
Chased Nazis Almost 2 Miles.
1t. Comdr. Ivan Karloff, an
earnest young officer who shared his
room with wounded political CON-
missar, Gregori Alexev. told dis
passionately of the Russian bayonet
attack in which he received a bullet
through the arm.
We took them quite by surprise
the Germans, he said. They were
sitting around on a meadow, just
beginning to eat supper, when We
charged down on them shouting our
battle cry. 'Ura, Ura' They dropped
their supper and ran. We chased
them 3 kilometers ,almost , niles.
Those Fascists can't face Soviet
bayonetS."
Karloff, who is as handsome as
his Hollywood namesake is homely,
fought two months at the front and
is eager to go back He said the
Stuka bombardmentS were not near
ly as bad as the terribly concentrated
trench mortar and artillery fire.
When our planes came up. the
German ships always few of instead
of accepting the challenge, " he added.
In a spotless operating room a
rniddle-aged woman doctor, assisted
by at least 10 nurses. was probing
q grievous wound in an officers chest
for a shell splinter The patient,
lacking the strength to submit to an
anesthetic, bore the agony tight
Tipped.
Russian Is Man Of Courage.
You don't have to listeA long to
these returned peasant soldiers,
telling their simple stories, to realize
what even the Germans have ad-
mitted: That the Soviet soldier,
above all, is a man of courage. He
respects German mechanical power
but is very sure of his superiority
to his Nazi counterpart as fight
ing man.
Moreover, he is a man of placid,
Slavic temperament and not easily
intimidated as were the French by
familiar Nazi tactics of deception.
Noisy demonstrations do not fright
en- him into retreat. Panzer attacks
have to be backed up by real force
instead of merely racket and COM
motion.
The Russians have caught on to
many psychological tricks that the
Nazis employed so successfully on
the western front. They do not
react as the Germans expected.
Hitler now is being obliged to pay
for his victories instead of getting
them for nothing.
Reverting again to the hospital, I
wish to add that it was orderly and
well supplied. The limited staff of
doctors included a high proportion
of Women-au except the superin-
tendent, mobilized from civilian
life.
tcoryright l94l, Chicago Daily News. me