Evening star., 1941-07-23
Veteran Of Red Army
Says Germans Use
Synthetic Gasoline
Declares Most Of
Fighting Is Limited
To Tanks and Planes
By ERSKINE CALDWELL,

Correspondent of The Star and Pm.
MOSCOW, July 23.-I have just
talked to an eyewitness who had
spent % days at the front. He was
Vladimir Stavsky, 4l-year-old bri-
gade commissar in the Red Army.
Stavsky is in Moscow for two days
before returning to the front.
Brigade CommiSSar Stavisky, who
Is veteran of Russias Civil War,
the Far Eastern campaign and the
Finnish campaign, was wounded
many times on the Karelian PENN
sula and now bears wound in his
hand received days ago in Belorus-
sia. Stavsky is the author OF 10
books and two plays. He wears the
Badge of Honor and three decora-
tions OF the Order of the Red Ban
ner. two from the Soviet Union for
bravery and one from the Mon
golian republic.
Il have witnessed many tank bat
ties between the Red Army and the
German Army. the last one only
three days ago." he said. The Ger
mans throw everything they've got
into the fight, but their tanks aren't
q match for the new Soviet tanks.
Use Synthetic Gas.
"I saw one new Soviet tank turn
over three German tanks by ram
ming them sidewiSe. The Germans
have lot of new tanks and also
lot of old ones. The old ones look
as if they've been patched up three
or four times. One captured tank
commander told my men that he
had received a medal for driving
tanks across France"
The German mechanical forces
and air force use synthetic gaso-
line" Stavsky continued. The Ger
mans have small amount Of min
eral gasoline, but not much is in use.
You can tell the peculiar whine Of
German plane motors made by the
use of synthetic gasoline, and 1t al
WAYS gives the identity Of their
planes away"
He described several battles that
have taken place on a western front.
In one of these engagements Ger
mans hurled 1000 tanks against an
almost equal number of Soviet
tanks. In this battle. which can be
described as being on large scale
in war where everything is on a
large scale, the aviation of both
sides also took part. Stavsky said
planes fell like clay pigeons at
trapshooting exhibition When the
battle was over he said the Germans
withdrew behind their own lines.
leaving a large number of flaming
and shattered tanks on the field.
In another engagement the Ger
mans lost five divisions of their
mechanical forces" Stavsky said.
These five divisions contained ap-
proximately $500 pieces of motor
lied equipment and these included
tanks, armored cars and other
heavy pieces. But tank engagements
are not always on such big scale.
I have seen many columns of Ger
man tanks that did not contain
more than 10 or Is. and when
these columns met Soviet tank
columns the battle was over in a
short time. Several of these small
engagements might be taking place
within a small radius"
An Infantry Battle.
Stavsky described a combined in
fantry and tank battle on the banks
of an unnamed river. He said that
the Germans attempted to cross
with both men and equipment and
that when they finally gave up and
retreated. the river banks were
stacked with German dead and the
river clogged with disabled tanks,
causing it to overflow into the sur
rounding country.
He said that for the most part,
however, infantry was not used on
a large scale because most of the
fighting was with planes, tanks and
Rrmored cars.
While Stavsky was describing ac-
tivity on the front it became ap-
parent that the actual front is in
many instances as much as so
miles deep on both sides of the lines.
There appears to be nc comparison
between the present method of war
and the so-called French war.
Aviation of both the Germans
and Soviets keep up constant raid
ing as deep into each others ter
ritory as they can safely pene-
trate. This tends to keep troops
Of both sides widely distributed and
explains why most of the fighting
Is done with swift moving armored
cars and heavily armored tanks.
Stavsky said that during his three
weeks at the front he rarely saw
among German air force prisoners
any one more than "a years old He
said that one German air force
prisoner wore two medals. One was
an Iron Cross for raids on Britain.
and the other a Cross and Helmet
received for bombing Madrid in the
Spanish Civil War.
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