Evening star., 1942-12-17

2. The whole Red Army has been
trained, equipped and prepared for
winter fighting as never before. The
training OF ski troops has been es-
pecially great. 1t is impossible to
say or to guess, how many hundreds
OF thousands Of f1rst-class ski troops
the Russians now have; but there
seems no doubt that their number
has increased many times over since
one year ago. The Russians have
motor sleds to whisk machine gun
ners, or even field pieces and anti
tank guns, across frozen rivers and
the snow. How many? You guess
again.
They have runners for their air
planes and pilots who are far more
expert than the Germans are at
handling airplanes with runners at
tached. They have also brought
large quantities Of dog teams from
Siberia, and dog sleds can deliver
munitions much faster than trucks
can, during at least two-thirds OF
the year. in most parts Of Russia
All in all. Ivan Ivanovich-dovn to
his heavy woolen overcoat and his
wonderful felt valinki (boots)-is as
completely prepared for winter
fighting as the tremendous strains
and heavy losses OF last summer and
autumn would possibly permit.
Industrial Losses Recovered.
). The Soviet Union has already
recovered somewhat from its severe
industrial losses in the Ukraine and
the Don Basin. 1t has probably
survived the lowest ebb of its arma =
ments production in many cate
gorieS, and can look forward to a
considerable increase by spring.
Russian output of planes and tanks,
although still very much below i'm
mediate needs, is reported to have
risen slowly but steadily in the past
few months. Allied planes and other
materials are also arriving at a
quickened tempo and should be
greatly increased once North Africa
has been cleaned up.
But aside from Allied aid, the
Soviets have been winning their pro-
duction battle behind the UrAls.
Once again precise figures are not
released or banded about in Mos
COW. Nevertheless, the Soviet press
constantly publishes little items
which are highly indicative. The
heavy machinery and special equip
ment which were moved out of the
Ukraine and other areas as the
Nazis drove toward Moscow in 194l
have long since been reinstalled,
safely behind the Ural Mountains.
in the Magnitogorsk or Chelyabinsk
areas, or elsewhere in Western or
Central Siberia.
Not only are these plants now all
active, but very large df unknown
number Of war factories have been
built and put into production within
the past year, and scores of others
are nearing completion. Chimneys
are smoking today where II months
ago pine forests stood in lonely soli-
tude along forgotten Siberian rivers.
There will be many more such CHM
neys smoking by spring. In this
sense Hitler has lost his opportunity
to knock out Soviet Russia before
she could radically expand her inner
industrial citadel. Slowly but surely,
the Russians are winning their bat
tie Of production-but it must like
wise be borne in mind that. for
the Russians as for ourselves, trans
portation 10 something else.
4. Hitler has not only failed to
smash the Red Army. He has also
failed to crack Its morale. This Is
another reason why predictions
simply cannot be made about how
far the Russian offensive around
Stalingrad, or anywhere else, will
60 As late as October 20 one of
the ablest and best-informed for
eign military observers in Moscow
said to me:
Yes, I'm afraid the Germans will
have Stalingrsd within another two
weeks. 1t was always doubtful II
the Russians could hold Stalingrad;
but I must confess, thanks to their
magnificent resistance, they have
more than fulfilled my best hopes"
Nevertheless, contrary to every
sane and sound analysis and expec-
tation, the Russians achieved the
military miracle Of Stalingrad.
They did 1t just rs other Soviet
troops held Hell's Hollow on the
Volga-"by morale force" This was
the one and only explanation given
me by their commanding oflicer
when I visited that sector Of the
Rzhev front in early October.
Apropos Of Stalingrad, Maj. Gen.
Follett Bradley of the United States
Air Forces condensed the phrase to
one word-"guts."