Evening star., 1941-07-07
Soviet Strategy Calls
For Elastic Defense,
Heavy.Pressure

Neos IxPect Long war,
Believe Weight Will
Wear Down Enemy
MAI E. Cecil Smith. 1pho
commanded the Mdckensie-Pap-
iredu Battalion OF Canadian Uol-
nnteerS in the Spanish Republ-
can Army, Serped 1Uith many Red
Army instructors and advisers
attached to the Spanish forces.
He learned their military theories
phich they are noG putting into
practice against the Ndsi inund-
erS. In the toHoiUing article,
1Uritten for the Canadian Press
and brought to you By The Stars
Special NelpS SerUice, Maj. Cecil
Smith discusses the Russians
fcar StrategyJ
BY MAJ. E. CECIL SMITH.
TORONTO. July 7-For many
years the officers of Soviet Russia s
Army have looked forward with
absolute fatalism to a war with
Germany, and their grand strategy
is based on the belief it will be a
long war during which the great
resources of the country and the
weight of its man and machine
power gradually will wear down the
enemy.
This I learned, among other
things about the Russian Army,
from close association with num-
Der of Red Army officers during two
years of front-line service in the
Spanish civil war.
The Russian strategy differs
radically from the timetable
"blitz" theories of FasciSm which
call for the building up of every
thing for a sudden attack which
must carry all before it.
The Russian idea is expressed in
the tactics of continually increased
pressure. to be brought to bear
cumulati lively until the enemy cracks.
An effort was made to modify this
tactic and strategy to the Spanish
war, but it eventually failed be-
cause Spain has not the resources
or man power of Russia and was
not capable of producing all its
military needs at home, since some
of the most important arsenals we're
in the hands of the FasciSts.
Tactic Proved Decisive.
But the Soviet Union is not Re-
publican Spain. 1t has great fac
tories and resources, enormous man
power, and great spaces over which
to maneuver. In the last two
respects, it somewhat resembles
China.
In the short campaigns of 1886
and 1889 against japan in the east
and in the Finnish war of 1939-40
we have been able to see this tactic
In practice. While perhaps not so
dramatic as the German time table
assaults, the so-called "blitz," it
has proved effective and decisive.
The Red Army won all these en-
gagements by gradually putting
into the struggle the weight of its
local strength
Against Hitler and his allies in
the present conflict they will prob
ably have to exert themselves to
the limit, for Russian officers with
whom 1 spoke were quite plain in
their belief that victory does not
go to the piker in war any more
than it does in a poker game.
D11t in 1000 fHnyy nUyNrnccnI tIpy1o
selves as well prepared for the con-
and capable of winning
out. Since then the Red Army, air
force and navy have certainly been
greatly strengthened, and on May
Marshal Timoshenko stated that
the army equipment had again
been remodernized within the last
three years.
First to Try New Ideas.
It Is we'll to remember that most
Of the startling ideas sprung by
Hitler in this war were scoffed at
bv western experts" when first
and tried out in Rus
sian maneuvers. In the early '30s
AZ Ndo q lGdU june WIlCII lllt bCONltG
Union began to train parachute
troops. On every side experts told
lis they would all be shot down be-
fore they reached the ground
When an entire division, with its
erms, was landed by parachute and
glider in the Russian maneuvers of
1886. and theoretically won the day
for their side, it was considered a
thing to be laughed at as proof of
Slavic inability to be realistic. Even
a year or so ago, when Russian
planes carried light tanks and
artillery forward in the occupation
of Bessarabia, the whole thing was
passed off as publicity stunt
But Crete and the Low Countries
proved that this was no pipe dream,
and Hitler's plans for the invasion
of England itself are based to a
large degree on novel theories and
Ideas of Red Army experts.
No Impregnable Line.
Whatever mistakes the Soviet
Union may make in this present war
certainly won't be as a result of the
Russians not being willing to try
something new. For those Russians