Evening star., 1941-10-31
Bv RALPH INGERSOLL.

government thinks about any sub
ject is to take liberties with Ian
guage The most centralized OF gov
ernments is a collection of indi-
viduals, each of whom may think
differently about different subjects.
But if there was ever a group OF
men who think alike and for whom
the phrase, the government thinks"
is almost precise, it's the govern
ment of the Soviet Union. Allow
ing the liberty, then, this is what
the Soviet government thinks about
It's war against Fascism-and about
its new Allies, Great Britain and
the United States of America.
In the first place, the Soviet gov
eminent knows its armies are now
outnumbered in planes and tanks.
Therefore, its optimum objective,
in a military sense, is TO keep its
armies together and to continue its
unbroken line of resistance and to
go on exacting casualties as it re-
treats.
This has been the Soviet strategy
since the break-through of the
first week of the war.
The Soviet did not expect war
with Germany when it came This
does not have to be taken on any
mans word for there is abundant
evidence to support it. AS usual
.the Germans attacked on a Sunday
morning. For some time now Sun
day has been a day of rest in Rus
sia experiments with five days on
and the sixth day to rest. appar-
emily were not satisfactory The
heavy concentrations of Soviet
troops along the German border
did not have the day off, but they
were relaxed. At many stations. par
ticularly on airportS, inspections
we're being held. AT these airports
the planes were not dispersed but
were drawn up in lines in front OF
the hangers. Word of the German
declaration of war had not been re-
layed to all outpostS-and many
frontier stations which had got the
word were skeptical about it and
were seeking confirmation. When
the German bombers came over, an
ti-aircraft crews did not open fire
at once. They telephoned to head
quarters to ask instructions on what
most of them thought was simply
a breach OF treaty. Before they had
time to think twice their planes
were destroyed and their hangers
were on fire. The initial German
drive on land, after smashing down
outlying strong points, went into
Russian territory at 80 to 40 miles
an hour.
Government Was Aware.
In Moscow, just before the in
easion the government was quite
aware of the seriousness of the crisis,
knew the German troop disposals
accurately. But the government
thought that such an obvious threat
of invasion was simply the prelude
to a demand for further treaty
concessions.
BY the time the German panzer
divisions had run the limit of their
gas supply Soviet armies on the
frontier were encircled, and in
stead of fighting to hold back the
German advance, all their energy
and ammunition went to get them
selves out of the hole they were in
and to reforming themselves into a
coherent line. Enormous supplies
of equipment were lost in this re-
treat. and from then on the Soviet
government knew that its armies
would not be able Immediately to
stem the German advance-even at
the old Soviet frontier, which was
better fortified than the new.
The government in Moscow. in
conference with its generals, decided
that the lesson of the Polish and
the French campaigns was that it
would be playing into German hands
to attempt to make firm and final
stand at any given point-the Ger
man motorized columns would SIM
ply circle this strong point and
throw the defensive line out of bal
ance. Thus a policy Of maintaining
a continuous line was adopted-and
sacrifices we're made to keep this
line intact. An attempt was made
TO put a price on every position the
Germans captured-a price in mer
and machines.
Russians Feel They've Been
Successful.
Soviet commanders feel they have
been successful in this objective and
the map certainly confirms it.
The Soviet government admits
that the Germans still have the
equipment and the organization to
take any given local objective-un-
less it be one of the big cities which
the citizens can turn into fortress
and which can only be taken by
complete encirclement and starving
out. Thus it is resigned to the fact
that alone they cannot administer
a severe defeat to the Germans in
the field.
The Soviet government is resigned
to something else. 1t is resigned to
the fact that this will be a wal
won. not by valor in the field, but
by the production of arms in the
factory. 1t sees the war in terms
of this formula:
What is left of the factory pro-
duction of Russia, plus the factory
production of the British Empire
plus the factory production of the
U. S. ALL these minus the diff
Guilty of getting this production from
one area of conflict to another
versus the factory production O.
Germany. plus the factory produc'
3tfon of Czecho-Slovakia, plus the
factory production of France ant
Belgium-all this increased in ef
fectiyeness by the ease with which
supplies can be moved to fighting
fronts.
,- 1t does not believe that German
production can be materially GU
down by bombing.
Won't Try to Influence U. >.
1t sees this formula as formula
which works presently to Germany
advantage.
In the governments eyes there /
only the untapped potential o
United States production to offse
its sides disadvantage. 1t does no
know what we will do about thi