Evening star., 1942-10-20
fSepenth in. a ,Series.)

BY LELAND STOWE.
war correspondent Of The Star and Chi
caso Daily News
WITH THE RED ARMY ON THE
NAdEV FRONT.-The second night
We rode from sunset to sunrise. ant
We really didn't ride. We lust bat
tled all night to get our two cars
from one quagmire into another and
tnen out OF that one into third,
= 18th and seth. And this was
not the front. 1t was Just edeing
up toward the front sector. And
al the mud we wallowed through
was merely permanent mud. There
mad not been any rain for several
days.
All night long, whenever we were
In moton at all, it was like being
tAeo on the back of q mad biliygoat
ana II we hadn't had two cars at
tnls stage we would never have kept
hcnlng along. Sometimes Mai, Ar
aphov's car pulled out ours. Some
times Ivan the Terrible managed to
keep our car on the road long
enough to pull the majors out.
1t seemed like this road was
made Of an endless series of holes,
Dogs and bitches with pine logs
thrown in or buried haphazardly
and the whole thing was an obstacle
course designed to ruin the springs.
axles, tires and human dispositions
with . maximum of certitude and
minimum Of time consumed. Some
times we would make 40 yards.
sometimes we would make go Yards.
Then everybody would be out again
siogging around in 6, 8 or 10 inches
Of mud.
Work Like Demons.
1t was freezing cold and the mud
and water didn't help matters any
but these Russian chauffeurs would
plunge their arms into muck almost
up to their elbows to plant a pry-
log under the axle. The major and
the battalion commissar also worked
like demons.
Sometimes, Ivan the Terrible. in
the headlights dim glow would
stumble around with his head down
Ike bewildered bull, his prize
lighters mug screwed up into a
formidable knot while he tried to
hgure out which quagmire might
oner the least chance of getting
bogged-in indefinitely
Then we would leave the mud be-
hind for a while and 60 bucking,
Jostllng and jumping forward with
tne road bottom under us at half
. dozen different levels most of the
time. The back seat of our car had
long ago sacrificed it's springs to
Russla's war effort and every time
We crashed down toward the bowels
OF the earth, our resumed contact
with terra firma registered itself
Sharply and nightly upon the
base Of my spine.
Usually it seemed we were MOVING
up and down and sideways quite
rs much as we were moving ahead
and my innards felt and behaved
exactly like buttermilk in a churn.
Every now and then. in fact, nv
outraged stomach would take
headlong leap at my tonsile-and
there were times when I concluded
1t had got tangled up there and
would never return to its normal
habitat. 'p--' -~-'-~ Z.
q. Heart Breaking Roads.
This IL 4 perfectly literal report
and perhaps by this time you'll
pardon me for saying that these
roads near the central Russian front
are positively the worst roads have
ever encountered anywhere in the
World War. The roads in the Greek
and Albanian mountains and the !
Burma Roads 1.500 miles into Kun
ming. China, were certainly ghastly
at times and certainly the most
dangerous motoring I have ever ex-
perienced. Even so, you could call
them roads most of the time.
Once trying to get down to the
front. north of Trondheim, in Nor
way, became intimately acquainted
with the most hopeless, most abom-
Unable stretch OF alleged roadway I
had ever seen or cared to see. But
that was In late April with 3 feet of
melting snow sending high rivulets
OF water down every rut- and ditch.
Here in Russia, behind and up to the
Rzhev front, there still Is no snow
and the long summer has inter-
vened. yet even without the recent
rains these roads would break both
your heart and your spinal cord. I
That second night we averaged
less than 10 miles an hour for II
tnterminable hours. But in the sue
ceeding days and nights we drove !