Evening star., 1942-11-04
Merit and Morale Give Soviet
Army Great Fighting Qualities
Well Clothed and Fed Red Soldier
Knows Home Front Stands Behind Him

today with the possible exception of
the Chinese Army.
The comparative early age Of Red
Army generals undoubtedly accounts
for the dynamic energy which so
many of them have and also for the
endurance which those in fighting
zones show. Even so, top-ranking
Russian officers almost invariably
possess much more personal ex-
perience with war than most for
eigners probably imagine.
One of the factors which ex-
planned why the Greek Army fought
so amazingly well against greatly
superior Italian forces was the fact
that virtually all Greek officers from
lieutenant colonels to their highest
generals were fighting in their third
or fourth war. This is also true of
the majority Of colonels and gen.
erals in the Red Army.
Fought Poles, Firms, Japs.
These upper-ranking Russian Of
f1cers fought in the civil war of 1917
1919 (some even fought in the Cars
army before that. Most of them
later fought in the Polish War of
1921. Some of them fought in a
series Of battles against the Japanese
in Siberia some years ago and a
great many fought through the Fin
nish war, which provided most val
liable training and lessons for the
present struggle against the Ger
mans.
Thus the Red Army, for the most
part, Is commanded by veteran Of
f1cers but by officers who have been
compelled to modernize as they de-
veloped their army. BY now, both
in this front trip and on previous
visits to Red Army tank, aviation
and cavalry units and training
schools, I have met q pretty COM
plete cross section of Russian ON
GERS.
My dominant impression is that
they know their business and they
have not been advanced by favorit-
ism or by politics but for proved
personal merit. At the very least,
I can honestly say that of those
armies with which I have been as
sociated, this seems especially true
of only three-Finnish, Greek and
Russian officers alike.
There also are certain exceptional
factors about the younger Russian
officers which must be taken into
account. Like the common Russian
soldiers, they are 4 product of the
Soviet Union-all Of those who are
under the age of 40, and these
younger commanders, bear the brunt
Of active battle. I can illustrate
what I mean by citing Maj. Arapov,
Red Star reporter. who has been
accompanying us along this front.
Career Widened by Soviet.
Although Maj. Arapov has been
serving for several years as staff
reporter of the Red Army's daily
newspaper. he is a full-ranking ma
jor OF artillery. He comes of ordinary
peasant stock and was born and
brought up In a small farming viii
lage near Voronez.
Under the Romanovs, Arapov
would have never had a chance of
being anything but an uneducated,
probably illiterate peasant laborer
on the land. Under the Soviet Union
he has received both high school
and technical education-all with
tuition free. Arapov is a ma jor to-
day and also a man with the jour-
nalistic profession on the side. Un-
der the Cars he could never have
hoped to be more than 4 corporal.
There are scores OF thousands of
heutenants, captains and ma jors in
the Red Army who owe both their
rank and education to the oppor-
tunities offered to all the common
people under the Soviet Union.
These junior officers, therefore, have
a peculiar debt to their government
and their country and they, by vir-
tue OF their posts in the army, are
called upon to provide the usual de-
gree of fighting leadership.
1t Is my observation that the Red
Army's younger oticers play quite
as vital role in the Russian forces
resistance as do the much more ex-
perienced senior officers and that
the two combined 60 far to explain
the Red Army's fighting spirit and
strength.
There still remain the army COM
missars and they, too, are enor-
mously important. 1t will be neces-
sary to discuss their personalities
and new status in a separate article
tcopyrisht. 1912, by Chicaso Daily News.