Evening star., 1942-10-27
18th in a Series.)
Bv LELAND STOWE,

Bv LELAND SxOWE,
Foreisn Correspondent Of The Star ant
Chicago Daily News.
WITH THE RED ARMY ON THE
RZHEV FRONT.-On both sides o.
the front lines the battle Of propa.
eanda is waged just as increasingly
as it Is carried on in the capitals, but
with one great difference. Here
there is opportunity for direct con.
tact with the enemy and here is one
place where neither Hitler nor Goeb.
bells can shut the German soldiers
ewes and ears. So the Russians are
especially organized to try and make
Fritz think-such Fritzies, that Is
as may still be capable OF any kind
of mental analysis.
Anybody who has had any ac-
ouaintance with the German peo-
ple knows that most OF them love to
have somebody, particularly some
big and high-titled parsonage. tell
them what to to do and whaJ to
think. With their high-pressured
propaganda tactics and their ad-
mitted practice of telling the biggest,
blackest lies because-as Hitler says
In "Mein Kampf," people always
swallow the biggest lies easiest-the
Nazis have exploited the German
peoples Herr Doktor" weakness to
the limit.
Busy Night and Day.
Nevertheless. the Red Army, which
Hitler announced In q state of COL
lapse a year ago this months still
intact and fighting more freely than
ever and the great majority of the
100000 or 100000 German SOL
diers in Russia are actively wonder
ing what is wrong. Here, along the
front, the Russians German Ian
guage propaganda section works day
and night passing food for thought
across the trenches to Fritz.
Pamphlets, OF course, are the chief
device used to acquaint the German
soldiers with the other side of the
world war picture. But lou-speak-
ers are employed regularly in the
front lines and German prisoners
often speak to the men in their own
companies or regiments. The pris-
oners are frequently anxious to do
this. They have been warned for
so long that the Russians take no
prisoners that they Jump at the
chance to assure their company
mates that they are unharmed and
ask them to send word to their
families at home.
The Russians even have German
language news sheets which they
send across the lines. One of these
is called. Die Wahrheit" (Truth)'
and another, What Is Happening
In Germany" The latter, for in
stance, has lead article on a bad
harvest In Germany and also pub
fishes letter from a German SOL
dier's mother complaining about the
terrible food they are getting at
home.
A front-page box points out that
"Hitler has occupied virtually all
of Europe, but the bread ration in
Germany is getting steadily small
Ter. Isn't it foolish to fight to
enrlch group OF H1tler'S parasites?
Think this over carefully"
German Letters Useful.
Germans themselves provide some
OF the most disturbing propaganda
items in the form of letters found
on the bodies of their dead Die
Wahrheit publishes many such let
ters, of which the following, writ
ten from Hamburg by soldier S
father in August, is typical. He
says:
Dear Oskar Hubert: We are glad
you are we'll. Yes. we had a heavy
blow on the nights Of the 27thth,
28th ad 29th. If you were here you
would admit that you had never
seen anything like it. The beautiful
Alster Pavilion was completely
burned down, and several squares
were badly hit. The number of dead
reached 319 persons, and about 1000
were injured. Near our neighbor-
hood 800 bombs fell"
Although tens of thousands of
leaflets like Die Wahrheit are scat