Evening star., 1941-07-24
BY EUGENE PETROV,

Worth American Newspaper Alliance
MOSCOW, July 24.-The first
month OF the Russian war with Hit
ler's Germany has ended.
Hundreds of thousands of peo-
pie have been annihilated, millions
have been crippled. millions or
phaned and made homeless. In the
last war a whole year was required
for such losses.
have just returned from a two
day visit to the front in the Smo,-
ensk direction where 1 spoke with
many military men. All Of them,
from private to general, were full
Of stubborn determination.
The modern German offensive
tactics now being used are based
on an exact plan thought out with
true German care and elaborate
ness. The battle array is as fol-
lows: Motorcyclists move in advance
followed by tanks and then in
fantry; aircraft and tanks are
massed for action.
Previously Successful.
In Poland, France, Yugoslavis
and Greece these tactics brought
lightning and SUPPLYING successes.
The plan drawn up by the general
staff was fulfilled with eXactness.
All wheels and cogs Of the war ma
chine worked perfectly. They need
ed only oil.
But on the fields OF Russia the
Germans found that war consists
of thousands Of factors which no
general staff can foresee. 1t ap-
pears that the Russian population,
instead of turning into slaves work.
ing for the conquerors, abandon
their homes, carrying of the har-
vests and the cattle. What they
cannot carry away they destroy. 1t
appears that all men able TO bear
arms leave for the forests and be-
come guerrilla fighters. AL women
and youths able to hold shovel
dig defense bitches stretching for
hundreds and thousands of miles
Finaly-and this is most impor-
tant-lt appears that in the process
OF war the Red Army discovered the
right defense tactics and perfected
them
The chief task of the defense con-
sists of cutting off the infantry
from their tanks and forcing it to
accept the fight. Infantry is the
weak spot in the German Army. 1t
is accustomed to move behind great
masses of tanks. When the Red
Army manages to isolate infantry
the infantry's losses are enormous.
Machines Coxs Slip.
The Red Army launches tank
eounterattacks. The effect of all
this is that not all the wheels and
eogs OF the thoroughly-built Ger
man war machine are working as
they should. The machine is oper-
ating less and less smoothly every
day, This machine is so compli-
Gated that only an ideal interaction
OF all parts can guarantee con-
tinuous running. But the interac-
tion is breaking down. Some of
the parts are already spoiled.
have conversed with many Ger
ber Of German letters found on the
battlefield. 1t is now apparent that
the German Army consists of three
types of men. The first. amounting
to about 10 per cent of the total,
consists of the Hitler Guards, the
SIS men and members of the Nazi
party. The rest of the army seems
to be divided into two parts-those
blindly carrying out orders without
knowing what the war is about,
while longing for peace. and those
who despise Hitler and would be
glad to be taken prisoner.
Eyewitnesses told me that they
had seen German tanks heaped with
garments, shoes and womens under
clothing stolen in White Russia.
As part of the offensive tactics.
German airplanes appear suddenly
from behind woods and attack
women and children fleeing from
towns and villages. One Hitlerite
lieutenant was shot down by Soviet
fighters after one such attack. The
corpses of citizens he had slain had
not yet been removed. Why do you
homb unarmed people," he was
asked. You must have seen they
we're women and children" His
answer was, The women and chill
dren were careless enough to be
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