Evening star., 1942-05-20
By LELAND STOWE,


Foreign Correspondent Of The Star and
CHICAGO Daily News
MOSCOW, May 20.-If 1t should
take you six days and night to travel
by express train from New York to
Kansas City-if your passenger train
sat motionless for hours and hours
on sidings and you averaged less
than 10 miles an hour-well, II this
were a common characteristic of
every passenger train in the United
States because the transportation of
defense materials had been given
priority over human beings in
transit-well. II this were so you
would begin to have some concep-
tlon Of Soviet Russia on q 100 per
cent war basis.
l have just spent six days and
nights on the train from Baku to
MOSCOW. We averaged no more than
10 miles an hour. We went ahead
more slowly than have ever moved
on wheels in my life. But that was
because we were only passengers
and passengers do not count at all
In country which is really at war,
all out and UP to the hilt.
Everything else on railroad wheels
is moving plenty fast in Russia. We
sat on siding after siding and
watched long freight trains rumble
past. Some were loaded with am
munition. some with machinery;
others contained dozens of oil cars,
still others troops. Sometimes we
had to wait for three or four trains
to 60 through before our train re-
sumed its slow-motion crawl. 1t was
a wonderful example of putting first
things first and passengers were
down at the bottom of the list, where
civilian passengers belong in war
time.
Impressive Sight.
Before the war foreign visitors
used to wonder about Soviet rail-
roads but they have got an en-
phatic answer today These rail-
roads are moving enormous quaint.
ties Of stuff and their trains are
moving all the time. They are an
impressive sight and at 10 miles an
hour you have plenty Of leisure In
which to observe the steadiness and
efficiency with which they operate.
North of the Caucasian Mountains
our line swung westward until we
were less than 200 miles from Kerch
where, unknown to us, a big Russo
German battle was raging at that
very moment. We got not the
slightest hint of these nearby hos
tilities from anything We saw along
the line. Calm, unrufI.ed peasants
crowded every station. So did hun
dreds of soldiers.
But neither peasants nor soldiers
betrayed anything resembling sup
pressed excitement. Tney strolled
nonchantly up and down, chatting,
laughing, or lazily basking in the
sun. From their easy normalcy you
might have supposed that the near
est front was at least 1000 miles
away.
What about the chances Of q sud-
den Nazi bombing raid on this splen-
did military target? Such an idea
never seemed to have entered any
body's mind.
Russia's Unconquerables.
What about Hitler's ''invincible
legions" only a couple OF hundred
miles away? Nobody around here
seemed to have ever heard Of Hit
ler's "unconquerables." After all,
the only unconquerables in these
parts are all Russians, simple SOL
diers In the Red Army.
Talk to us OF unconquerables.
stranger, and we will tell you their
names and their home addresses.
Sure. there Is a war on. but we have
had them before and why should we
worry. War is very simple. You
know how to fight and you know
how to die-or you do not know how.
Our men know how. Better enjoy
this wonderful spring sunshine.
stranger. 1t means that the spring
offensive will be coming soon. Sure,
our offensive is coming all right.
Our Red Army will take care OF
that. Might as we'll relax and drink
in the sun while you have the
chance
At some stations peasants are SELL
ing eggs, milk and potatoes. At
every station there is big rush for
the "kippytuck"-it sounds like that
in Russia-anyway, the place where
you fill your receptacles with hot
water for your tea. Everybody has a
"kippytuck," but there is nothing at
all martial about that.
You notice how well-clad, husky
and healthy the Russian soldiers
are. You notice especially their un-
concern. None of these people,
civilians or soldiers, seems to have
any nerves. That is the marvellous
advantage that peasant peoples
have. Their nerves are buried very
deep-good, sound nerves, which are
totally unused to shifting gears sud-
denly, if at all.
No War Tension.
So we ride on toward Moscow and
there is no war tension or excite
ment Of any kind. Things just keep
moving