Evening star., 1941-08-07
BY ERSKINE CALDWELL.

BY ERSKINE CALDWELL,
Correspondent Of The Star and PM.
MOSCOW. Aug. THE growing
confidence of the Russians in their
ability to repel the German invasion
becomes more apparent each day.
There has never been anything
among the people I have talked
with in Moscow but an expression
OF calmness. Even during the first
few days Of the war the people here
never doubted for q moment that
the Soviet armed forces would bring
the Germans to q halt.
AS time went on people talked
freely of the time when the Ger
mans would not only be halted but
would be pushed from Soviet terri
tory. Already the people are talk
ing about counterattacks by the
Soviet Army and the probability of
q crushing defeat for the Germans
within a reasonable length of time.
Nazi Raiders Efforts Scotched.
The guardians of Moscow, eSpe-
eially the fire fighters and air de-
tense workers, have so far scotched
German attempts to break the city
from the air. During the raid early
Tuesday morning I watched two
fires being extinguished in short
order. They first burst into glow
after q shower of fire bombs had
been concentrated in certain dis
tricts. But within Is minutes one
fire was completely out, and the
larger one was -extinguished not
long after.
While the fires were being put
out Soviet night fighter planes
roared overhead and prevented the
The performance of the defense
unit was remarkable example of
Moscow's ability to control fires
under the most disadvantageous
conditions imaginable.
Any one who has tried to put out
blazing hay field in August or
flaming barn in the middle OF the
night will appreciate the adverse
conditions Moscow labors under. In
the midst of fire bombs 1t Is like
trying to stamp out flames while q
pyromaniac is running wild in
Vermont woodlot.
Nazi Officers Fear Capture.
talked yesterday to Eu-
gene Gabrielovitch, military observ-
er for Red Star, the central daily
news organ of the Red Army, who
came to Moscow for two days after
spending three weeks at the front
In the SmolenSk direction. Gabriel
ovitch said that the older German
soldiers who had been artists and
shopkeepers put the blame on the
younger soldiers for the position
they were in.
He said the old men told him,
when captured, that there would be
no war If the older people in Ger
many had been able to stop it, be-
cause it was only the young pro-
Nazis who wanted to fight.
He said few German officers were
captured, because they always re-
manned in the rear and never came
up to the scene of the fighting. The
highest officers who took part in the
actual fighting, Gabrielovitch said,
were corporals. According to his
statement, the higher German Off
GERS were so afraid of being cap
tured that they always sat in auto
mobiles far in the rear in order to
make quick getaway.
He explains this as the reason
why so many German soldiers be-
come so easily disorganized in the
midst of battle and so often shout
for help. 1t also accounted for q
large number of Germans surren-
dering when Red Army soldiers
come anywhere near them, he said.
Nazis Can't Understand Failure.
Many times I have seen German
soldiers get down on their knees
and hold up their hands" Gabrielle
witch said. when some of them
kneel down and surrendered tears
flow down their cheeks. A lot of
them cry and curse at the same
time. Some Of them told me that
this was the first time they had
come up against an army that
fought harder than they did. They
couldn't understand why they had
failed to beat the Soviets."
Gabrielovitch told of talking to |
several German prisoners who had |
taken part as tankists in the Greek |
invasion. He said they told him
that the Australians were hard |
fighters and the toughest they had |
come up against since the Polish |
campaign. He quoted them as say
ing that they had beat the Aus
tralians in Greece and then had !
hanged many of them from trees |
and buildings 50 they couldn't in
terfere again IN Germany's Eu-
sopean campaign. He said they
were proud of beating the Aus
kalians in Greece.
Other prisoners told him, Ca
hrielovitch said, that German OH
GERS had explained the war against |
the Soviet Union as retaliation
against Russia for not permitting
the German Army to cross Soviet
territory to get to the oil fields of
Iran. German soldiers were told
that the Soviet Union would be de-
feated in two weeks.
Capture of Tank Crews Explained.
A large number of German tank
lists were said to have been cap