Evening star., 1941-10-27
Continued From First Pageo

VI SlIOLlS pOlIll0. \ lJo-
sltiOnS are on every rise of ground .
and on the edge of every woods. And
on the roads through the woods
when I was there, were columns of
tanks, parked trucks, supplies. The
positions on the hills were dug in
the ground and covered with netting
on which patches of canvas had
been StuCk-the canvas patches /
painted the color of the landscape. /
The guns were under them. They
We're very hard to see from a little
way off.
There We're no troop movements
when I was there. Everything .
seemed to be i'll place, ready, wait
ing Civilian groups had begun
multiplying the strong point system. /
You saw them all over the hills, a
hundred here and a hundred there,
digging. They were mostly women
In Moscow the men were in what
in England would be called the
Home Guard. You saw them drill
ing in small detachmentS. march,
ing through the streets. often sing
ing. They did not carry arms then.
Keeping Back the BOmbers.
The most distinctive military fea-
ture OF Moscow was its antiairCraft
barrage That was terrific. It eX-
tended in a belt around the whole
city, and I have been to batteries
over 80 miles from the center When
tho NNln,NnC
whole business seemed to let go at
once. I had been through the end
of the blitZ in London last year. and
watched antl-alrCraft work in China
and EkvNt. I've seen nothing TO
compare with the volume and in
tenSIty OF the barraee around Mos
COW Other observers who had been
in England agreed with me When
the Nazl planes came. the Russians
Just turned it on and let It on, hour
after hour, until the sky was a con-
tinuous ripping sparkle of exploding
shells and fragments tlnkied con-
tinuously III the big squares and
struck so many sparks they looked
like fields Of firefleS
lit tOUNItl D4NNS IIlSlSitu lIldi
MoSCoW's barrage was holding the
German planes back. But I did not
believe this because I had seen
planes flying through or over Lon
dons barrage But when I COM
pared notes with pilots and anti
aircraft gunners in Cairo they told
me they thought the Soviet press
was right. that a barragc as heavy
as I described would keep back the
bombers. They did not think the
Germans could get heavy loads
much over 10000 feet-and they
were more likely to be flying around
10000. in which case so heavy bar
rage would have run up the casual
ties beyond fair trading point.
There were Soviet planes over
Moscow almost continuously. The
best Soviet fighter planes are eX-
tremely Well-bullt imitation Hurri-
canes. lightly armed but fast and
very maneuverable Other types Of
planes in the Soviet air force are
far behind this model, but they were
using everything they had some
place or other on the front.
City of Enormous Spaces.
The besieged capital of the Soviets
is huge city. The first impression
one gets. emerging from a railroad
station, is of its enormous oper
spaces. The big squares are many
American blocks across. The main
avenues are so wide that. pacing one
off, I figured it could carry 20 lines
of moving traffic-l0 eaStbound ano
10 WeStbound. There was very little
traffic for them to carry, and thai
mostly trains of trucks carrying
ammunition and supplies.
These broad avenues and Widt
squares. they told me in Moscow
were new. They had been opened
up in the last two or three years
part of the l0-year plan of rebuild
ing what is already the show city
Of Soviet Russia. The work of re-
building was more than half COM
pleted when the war began anC
when, driving about. you saw scat
folding along the sidewalk it was
more likely to be around some civic
improvement than concealing bomt
damage. Whole houses had beer
picked up and slid back to oper
up the new boulevards.
There was practically no boml
damage in Moscow when | was
there in September 1 heard the
German short wave boaSting of th'
city's destruction. Drivel. There
had been three nights of what Lon
don would call medium-hea
bombing and you had to ride II
and Is minutes i'll car from ont
bomb crater TO the next.
I was in Moscow for three week
and there were only four raids dur
ing this time I saw no bombs fall
A I sat on a balcony looking across tn,
A square to the Kremlin, watching tn,
I show. One night German dropped
4 two enormous flares directly owe
J the Kremlin. and it was so light yo
could read your paper l got news
paper and tried it just to be sure
The Russians were shooting at tn
flares from the roof tops with wha
looked like strings of colored balls
= glowing red and orange. But n
bombs followed the flares.
One Direct Hit on Kremlin.
There had been one direct hit o
the Kremlin during an early ralc
It was not reported in the press. bu
a foreign observer in the Natlons
Hotel saw it hit, watched a clou
= of smoke rise and settle But Whe
I visited the Kremlin to see Stall
there were no signs of damage any
where.
The Russians had policy of re
pairing bomb damage immediatel,
work often beginning during the a
raid. Holes in the pavement ha
disappeared before the next morr
ing Just before I got there II
, Vakhtangov Theater had been h
and one of the best Soviet acto
killed. I went around to see tt
damage. The foundation had bee
repaired and new brick walls ha
grown six or seven feet high. F
the time l left Moscow, the theatt