Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-12-05
Eastern Front Eniqmo

this worldwide war, none is at once
more important and more pulling
than that known as the eastern
front. Here, millions of Russian and
AXIS soldiers are perpetually engaged
along a stretch of over 1000 miles.
Yet this titanic struggle is waged in
complete secrecy from all but the
combatantS themselves. Neither
neutral nor Allied observers have
been permitted to get more than dis
tant glimpseS of what is going on.
The result is that the outer world is
entirely dependent on Russian and
German official communicates or
semi-offlcial accounts, usually I'M
satisfactory and often misleading.
The present military situation is a
notable case in point. Some three
weeks ago, the Russians started a
sudden pincer operation on both
TANKS OF the Axis army besieging
Stalingrad, and this operation was
soon followed by another large scale
offensive on the central sectors west
of Moscow, especially from Rzhev to
Veliki Lyuki with minor thrusts still
farther north near Leningrad. Berlin
foretold the Rzhev offensive before
Moscow announced it, and has men
toned still other masSings of Rus
sian troops at Voronezh on the Upper
Don. The overall picture, as paint
ed by both sides, is that of general
lied Russian initiative along the en-
tire eastern front with the Axis
adopting a correspondingly defensive
role.
Here, however, agreement ends.
Russian reports tell of continuous
progress, especially around Stain
grad, accompanied by inf1iction of
tremendous losses upon the Axis
forces Ten days ago, Moscow was
claiming the virtual isolation of the
Axis army before Stalingrad, which
was represented as decimated and
disOrganized. Berlin admitted Rus
sian generations of outer defense
lines but described the situation as a
complex war of movement.
During the past few days, this.
widespread battling from the Volga
to the middle Don seems to have died
down. At least, neither side reports
much or claims heavy losses inflicted
on tho eppY,,y Tho ot,,ro1 IL, foro,,oo
is that the battle lines have been at
least temporarily stabilized. Moscow
tacitly admits that the Axis forces
before Stalingrad have not been
isolated, though they should be if all
the places on the map claimed as
captured by the Russians had been
held. Perhaps the battle lines have
shifted repeatedly. At least, the
present location of the rival forces
cannot be accurately plotted.
Somewhat the same is true OF the
Russian offensive in the Rzhev re-
gion, which appears to have lost its
initial momentum. And the thruStS
toward Leningrad no longer figure in
dispatches, while the impending blow
from VoroneZh has not got under
way.
In all this there is seeming par
allel with what happened last year
at winters advent. Then, the Rus
slams became very active at several
points, claimed notable successes,
and gave the impression that they
had the Axis armies on the run. But
the Russian offensives presently
came up against a chain of Axis
strong points which held throughout
the winter, despite continued har-
aSSing by the Soviet forces. In other
words, the Russian operations were
local and tactical rather than gen.
eralized and strategic in character.
Of course, it is too soon to say dog
matically that history is about to
repeat itself. Yet the absence of a
major break through by the Russians
at any point and the tapering off C
their various offensives begins to re-
veal what looks like familiar
pattern.