Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1941-10-29
Continued From First Page.)

had plenty to boast Of without
making up this story. 1 can
conclude only that he wanted
to provide g. bed for every one
and that he was substituting the
wish for the deed. Again and
again, in large and small things,
I found this pattern repeating.
Often it seemed to me to have
the same quality as pioneer
American Boosting in the West.
Tie little tank town on the now
railroad is practically another
Chicago because that is the way
the citizens see tin their imag-
ination, in the future.
1t is not that they lie con-
sclously; it is that they dream
so intensely that their dreams
have reality to them. 1t is this
quality that I observed in the
Russians which leads me to be
skeptical of many of their state
mentS.
Strive for Accuracy.
On the other hand, I join with
other foreign observers on the field
in believing that the government
is making a real attempt to give
accurate and realistic facts and fig
ures On the progress of the war.
We found this out in checking COM
muniques on German advances:
The Russians never concealed the
loss of a town more than 10 days.
They might report it the day after
it fell, or several days later, or,
upon one checkable occasion, 10 days
later. But if the Germans claimed
g. town and the report was not
confirmed within 10 days, you could
count on it that the Germans were
lying.
This lag did not seem to us In
Moscow an unreasonable one, par
ticularly considering two factors:
The presence of a German spear
head in a town would not by any
means insure its capture by the
Germans. Spearheads, as often as
not, are cut of or driven back.
The Soviet government has had
much bad news to pass on to it's
people. bad news which is painful
In the extreme. No one can blame
them-or call them untruthful or
evaslve-if they spread this out over
few days The Soviet govern
ment has behaved forthrightly and
with character in its frankness in
| admitting losses of men, machines
and positions.
Losses Inflicted on Foe.
1t Is when II comes to losses in
f1icted on the enemy that one feels
the wish is father to the COM
munique. British naval experts
shook their heads when they learned
that the Soviet government was CIV
ing credit to commanders for sink
ing submarine when they dropped
depth charge and saw oil rise
Many submarine escapes with open
seams or releases a barrel of oil to
throw its pursuer off the track.
There is no evidence that the
Russian count on enemy planes shot
down is based on anything like the
scruples of the r. A. F., in which no
pilot believes he has received credit
for half the planes he has destroyed.
am certain that the total of Ger
man tanks destroyed. as listed in the
Soviet figures. includes not hundreds
but thousands of tanks since recov-
cred by the Germans intact or only
partly damaged. And the Soviet
equipment captured by the Germans
must also be subtracted from the
Soviet counting of net German tank
! losses.
Thus. believe that Soviet figures
for German losses are exaggerated,
albeit innocently, or, as result of
lax methods of bookkeeping, con-
founded with understandable op-
/ timiSm.
I feel no conviction in estimating
German losses, but it is my belief
from the eyewitness stories I have
obtained, plus study of the figures
that one would not be far wrong in
estimating German losses at around
80 per cent of Soviet losses. Even at
this figure. German losses are stag
gering. Why can we not count on
German collapse as result of
them?
In the first place, because losses
do not have the same effect on a
victorious army as they have on one
in retreat. In the second place. be-
cause of the German capacity to
replace its lost machinery.
All Kinds Of Faces.
How cold these statistics sound