Evening star., 1942-10-10
Portent of StuIinurud

pened. Unless the German propa-
ganda machine is grinding out
something extraordinarily subtle,
Berlin radio broadcasts during the
past two days point clearly toward an
end to the costly infantry and tank
assaults upon Stalingrad which have
been launched almost continuously
for many days. Those radio an
nouncements were full of "explana-
tions" for this radical change of
tactics. The German people were
told that the strategic objective had
been attained weeks ago when the
Axis armies reached the banks of
the Volga. The "mopping up" of
Stalingrads ruins was, therefore, an
incidental by-product, which could
be realized almost as we'll by leveling
the ruins through intensive bonn
bardment as by sacrificing more
shock troops. The additional time
required for this leveling process was
a negligible detail, more than COM
pensated by the saving of German
lives.
Those arguments may possibly
satisfy the bemused and regimented
masses of the Third Reich, but to
any objective mind they sound pretty
thin The Axis war machine would
not have been battering Stalingrad
at tremendous cost for seven weeks
unless major stakes were involved.
Those stakes were both strategic and
psychological. Strategically, possess
sion of Stalingrad was necessary if
the NazlS were to obtain a firm an
chor for the projected winter CAM
paign to the southwark in the Cau-
casus and toward the Caspian Sea.
1t is at Stalingrad that the Volga
makes its big westward bend which
comes within fifty miles of an even
sharper eastward bend of the River
Don. At Stalingrad alone can the
Axis plug that land bridge between
the two rivers which would make
them relatively secure against Rus
sian counterdrives aimed at the
communication lines of their armies
in the Caucasus. With winter ap-
preaching, it will be extremely diff
cult for the Axis to improvise de-
fense line on the barren, windswept
steppes which stretch south of Sta
lingrad for hundreds of miles. A
widespread retreat may therefore be
necessary to safer lines, which
would mean the sacrifice of costly
gains.
Even more important than the
strategic setback is the psychological
blow which would ensue from a rails
ing of the siege. In the agonizing
weeks Of incredibly bloody combat
which have just passed, Stalingrad
has become more than a military
objective; it is symbol for the
morale of both sides. Time and
again, the German people and their
AXIS satellites have been assured that
this key city on the Volga would fall
as matter of course. Only ten days
ago Adolf Hitler in his winter-help
address gave an unqualified pledge
to that effect. If, now, German
hopes are dashed as cruelty as they
were year ago on the eastern front,
not only Germany but the whole
Axis moral structure will be shaken
to its foundations.
OF course, all this assumes that
German strategy has renounced the
enterprise and that Stalingrad will
be saved. We cannot be quite sure
of that, because the German high
command has not yet confirmed the
statements of Nazi propaganda
agencies whose utterances are always
suspect. Thus far, Moscow dis
patches relate no cessation of Ger
man infantry and mechanical as
saults, coupled with bombardments
OF fearful intensity. Yet even though
the ruined city should ultimately be
pulverized by German big guns and
giant mortars. Stalingrad has dealt
the Axis armies such Gripping
wounds that they can wage no more
major operations this year, while
Axis morale will be dented and Rus
sian morale correspondingly salved
by defense which borders on the
miraculous. In any case, Stalingrad
is portent the significance of which
cannot be underestimated.