Evening star., 1941-09-20
Kiev-und Beyond

Kiev has fallen indicates, by itself, a
local Russian defeat of great magni-
tude. Taken in conjunction with
tidings of German victory on vir-
tually all other sectors of the gigantic
battle front. it may betoken the be-
ginning of Russian disaster. Ger
tainly, the campaign has entered a
crucial stage.
There is Scant reason to doubt the
correctness of the German claim to
| have taken Kiev. While German
news agencies have told many fairy
tales and official reports have been
| proved guilty of eXaggerations, 1t
is highly improbable that the Ger
man high command would make so
categorical a statement as that its
troops had entered Kiev and hoiSted
the swastika flag over the citadel
unless it were true. Furthermore,
Moscow admits that the Kiev de-
fenses had been cracked and that
the Germans were at the city gates.
The local significance of Kiev's
speedy fall is unmiStakable. German
advance units reached the vicinity
of the city two months ago. But
Kiev is a heavily fortified area, and
presumably was able to make as Wig
orous a defense as Odessa if fully gar
riSoned. It's present capture, SEEM
ingly without serious resistance,
would seem to indicate that the bulk
of its defenders are retreating rap
idly in an attempt to break the iron
ring which the Germans claim has
been forged about the entire Russian
Army group in this region. Every
man is doubtless needed for the
task, except skeleton units in the
Kiev forts to fight a delaying action.
1t should be remembered that Kiev
has been Russian salient, threat
ened by the Germans on both f1anks,
especially on the south, since the
German conquest of the Western
Ukraine last month. The recent
German enlightenment far to the
eastward thus has rendered unten-
able a position which was becoming
precarious.
The capture of Kiev will abolish
this stubborn salient and will clinch
German mastery over the entire
Dnieper River line, which has al
ready been preached at several points
further south, with German armies
repeatedly advancing swiftly to cut
off the Crimean Peninsula and over
run the great industrial area center
ing about the city of Kharkov and
known as the Donetz basin. There
are no natural obstacles in the fiat
country which stretches eastward to
the River Don, and beyond that river
lies the road to the Caspian Sea and
the Caucasus with its oil fields. To
complete the picture, Leningrad ap-
pears to be under direct lombard
ment, while even in the SmolenSk
sector, Berlin claims that the recent
Russian drive has been endangered
by an encircling movement.
Moscow dispatches do little to dis
pell the gloomy prospect, while Lon
don voices frank alarm. Semi official
British spokesmen warn that "a Nj
agara" of supplies from Britain and
America is needed to avert the pos
sibility of Russian disaster which
might ultimately force Stain to
capitulate. An indirect bit of evi-
dence that Russia is in a tight spot
is the first German report on their
own casualties, which are placed at
100000. That figure seems absurdly
low, and is probably far underesti-
mated Yet, even so, it is twice the
total admitted by Berlin for the en-
tire war previous to the Russian
campaign. Unless the high COM
mand felt it had more good news
for its people in the offing, it would
hardly have chosen this moment to
break its persistent silence on a topic
Of such burning Importance for every
German family.
While Russia's military situation
appears dark, it would be premature
to draw too pessimistic conclusions.
The magnificent resistance of the
Russian armies has astonished the
world, and there have as yet been no
indications that their morale has
weakened. The Soviet Union is vast
and its armies can retreat to the
Urals if need be. So long as the spirit
endures, Russia can take tremendous
punishment and still survive.