Evening star., 1942-07-23
u. S. Asked
ToVisuuIize
Soviet Plight
Would Give Answer
To Second-Front PIeo,
Observer Declares
Ry LELAND STOWE,

By LELAND STOWE,
War Correspondent Of The star and the
Chicago Daily News
MOSCOW. July 23.-Sometimes IL
seems that words are as powerless
as icicles in an April sun. as futile
as an aviator's skywriting traced
across the heavens on a windy day.
How can one hope to make you see
and feel in some adequate measure,
the gigantic toll Of sacrifices. suf-
fering and death which the Russian
people still bravely endure as the
German invasion enters It's l4th
month?
You have had ham and eggs.
bacon or sausage or griddle cakes
and any amount OF butter, and
probably coffee with real cream. for
breakfast. You. switch to fruits or
cereals whenever you feel like 1t.
You gorge yourself with three meals
a day and you indulge in ice cream.
cakes. candy and cigarettes as fancy
dictates. How can you understand
that even the simplest nourishment
is truly luxury to l80, 900, 900 Rus
slams who exist on wartime rations2
You see hundreds or thousands
Of privately operated automobiles
every day. Probably you own or
ride in one. Even II you now have
only sufficient gasoline to drive your
car 200 or 800 miles a week, the
war really has not touched your mo-
toring or your mobility. How can
you visualize country several times
larger than the United States. where
not single motor car Is available
for private purposes?
Fight Without Respite.
There is no 1000 mile battle front
slicing through the hearts OF your
country--say from Boston to San
Antonio. Tex. How can I hope to
portray what this means to millions
7 upon millions upon millions Of Rus
slams? How can you conjure a tor
menting realization OF what it
means?
Here. for 13 terrible, desperate
months, 10,000O 900 men or $4,000 900
or more Russians have fought
without respite-and still fight.
Here scme 100000 Russians have
died or suffered wounds or have
vanished among the missing. That
means approximately one war cas-
ualty for every As men, women and
children throughout the Soviet
Union. That means one war cas-
ualty for every IS or 30 adults in
Russia's population. Supposing In
the United States and Canada we
today had losses OF one dead or
wounded for each 80 adults. Can
you possibly conceive what sacrifices
in lives and wrecked bodies all
America would now be feeling?
Mortal Combat Endured.
Can you somehow imagine this
kind OF an America, with three
months Of mortal combat on its
home soil already endured an
unpredictable number Of equally
rayaging death-strewn months yet
to be borne, one after another?
Can you picture scores of millions
OF people facing this, enduring this,
and accept this with the heart
breaking holocaust Of the battle Of
the Don Steppes roaring on inexor-
ably and yet saying: I'VE shall
never yield. We shall fight until
victory?" Can you see it2 Can you
feel it?
Never before in the worlds his.
tory has one war srnitten so many
hundreds Of millions OF lives stimuli.
taneously like this; and never 90
many scores OF millions In any one
land as in China and here in Russia.
These words OF mine are almost
useless, I know. You may not read
them. If you do, you will forget
! them tomorrow or the day after to-
morrow. But If you read them now.
then try somehow to visualize what
sacrifices the Russian people still
are making and the colossal price
they still pay to defend their land
and homes.
IT you can sense this price, and II
you will remember that. here, for tho
18th month they fight alone. then
you may understand how much the
opening Of second Allied front in
Western Europe before October
would mean to Russia's sorely tried
and long-suffering soldiers and
civilians.
Everything Is Life or Death.
For the Russians, everything Is q
matter of life or death. For them
there can be no halfway measures
or compromises. For them there
exists no way but to fight on 50 long
as human bodies and the human
spirit can endure. For them there
Is only blood. sweat and tears such
as neither Britain nor any other
Allied nation, except China, has vet
known by even a fraction.
For the Russians, too, until a Sec
ond front is created in Europe they
hight alone. Does 1t seem either
morally right or even physically
justif1able to ask these people tn
carry this huge and crushing burden
alone for another six months or a
year? Under the same circum-
stances, would you and every other
American be prepared to fight alone
IN this fashion for another six
months?
II you can conceive only little
OF what any reporter in Russia can
portray with the most hopeless in =
adequacy about what the Russian
people are paying to fight on and