Evening star., 1942-06-14
Eastern Front

German military activity all along
the 2,000-mile eastern front, from
the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea,
strongly suggests that the high COM
mand has decided upon an all-out
summer campaign to knock Russia
out of the war. There can be no
doubt that the Wehrmacht is deter
mined to capture Sevastopol, because
both sides report intensive German
assaults there, regardless of losses.
Moscow likewise reports a German
offensive in the kharkov area, while
nearly all sectors northward clear
to Leningrad show growing activity,
With the Germans taking the inltia-
tive. Lastly the Luftwatfe is STEP
ping up its raids on Murmansk,
Fussia's Arctic gateway to supplies
from its allies.
However, it would be unwise to
take it for granted that the Ger
man high command has at last
shown its hand. Once thoroughly
committed to general eastern
offensive, it is most unlikely that the
Axis has the strength to undertake
simultaneous major campaign
anywhere else. Thus far, German
grand strategy has been cleverly
masked, and its opponents have
thereby been compelled to guard
against alternative moves, such as a
giant pincer operation toward the
Near East, or even lightning inva-
sion of Britain. Rommel's sharp
thrust in Libya can still be inter-
preted either as the opening gun of
a big Near Eastern offensive or as
diversionary mask to keep the United
Nations guessing and pin down
defense forces at several potentially
threatened spots This Allied handi-
cap is inevitable, so long as Ger
many holds the overall strategic
initiative, and so long as its major
objective has not been disclosed.
The assault on Sevastopol is an
other case of alternative interpreta-
tions. 1t would pay Germany to take
that Russian Gibraltar even at an
exceedingly high price, no matter
whether the high command intends
an all-out offensive to smash Russia,
a limited southern offensive aimed
at the Caucasus, or strategic
defensive on the eastern front while
the Wehrmacht strikes at Britain or
the Near East. Similarly. the salient
punched by Marshal Timoshenko
south of Kharkov must be abolished
and that sector re-eStabliShed. no
matter whether offensive or defensive
tactics are meditated.
Recent Moscow dispatches throw
an interesting sidelight on the rela-
tive quiet which has thus far reigned
on the central and northern sectors
of the eastern front, from below
Moscow to Leningrad. Those reports
stress the flooded fields and muddy
roads which still prevail in those
regions. This is partly due to an
unusually late spring after a record
winter. But it is doubtless caused
also by the fact that the whole
north-central terrain has been
disrupted by years intensive cam
paigning which, among other mat
terS, has destroyed all methods of
flood control. 1t would not be
strange if large-scale mechanical
warfare cannot be undertaken
proftably there before early July
several weeks later than the opti-
mum season in normal years.
All things considered, it will thus
be wise to reserve judgment as to the
larger meaning of current operations
on the eastern front. Yet, as they
increase in intensity, the doubt will
lessen and a correct Interpretation
can be the more easily made. The
next fortnight may tell the story.
NJ =