Evening star., 1942-10-30
(16th of a Series.)
BY LELAND STOWE,
Foreign CORRESPONDENT of The Star and


Foreign CORRESPONDENT Of The Star and
Chicago Daily News.
WITH THE RED ARMY ON THE
RZHEv FRONT.-Once we got
under way, there were soldiers
everywhere. This time we were ap-
preaching Rzhev from still another
direction and it was startling how
the terrain had changed. Here,
instead of prairie or badlands, the
earth lay in succession Of long,
easy rolls, with many crevices tucked
In between and every crevice thickly
populated with men Of the Red
Army.
Although now the rear, this was
the Russians front line until their
offensive In August, and what a
beautiful front line it had been. 1t
runs for miles, sharp line of red
earth carved out of the rolling
ground and hillsides. Parapets
twist and turn and are so neatly
banked behind that the narrow
hard-clay sidewalk meanders on and
on across the landscape. Every few
yards this red slash in the earth's
shoulders has black rectangles
painted on it,. They are the door
ways of hundreds Of dugouts.
AS our jeep bounces forward we
see that this whole countryside Is
inhabited by earth dwellers. In each
little declivity and wrinkle of ter
rain, the caves of Russian soldier.
are tightly packed. In zigzag pat
terms, stovepipes sprout and turr
above and paralleling the parapets
Soldiers are carrying wood and wa.
ter, or washing clothes in small
streams. They belong to units nov
held in reserve, but these caves Civ
them snug, safe shelter within few
miles Of Rzhev itself.
Under the October sun all thi
makes a magnificent panorama
which might, be entitled, "The Ret
Army in the Red Earth" And tn
steady traffic along the road to tn
front is another part of it. Here i
the leveled carcass of another Rus
sian village, razed by shells ant
bombs so thoroughly that only thu
broken walls of two cabins remain
above the ground. In the midst o
this desolation stand two slende
red obelisks freshly painted ant
each crowned with star-th
graves of Red Army officers VIII
were killed in the recent fighting
Soldiers Move at Unworried Pace.
Along the rutted roadway severa
tractors are crunching forward
They are moving up more big guns
These are the same kind of gun
I have already seen in action il
another sector. Their mates ar
growing regularly up ahead. Every
where around us, however, there
no sign of a furry. Soldiers al
move at a steady, unworried pace
as if German planes did not exist.
OF course, the Nazis' bombers d
exist and we hear their motors nov
and again. But we didn't see an
enemy planes until just before W
reached headquarters. Then the
were Messerschmitts, very high an
anxious to get somewhere. In an
other few minutes, we were cuttin
across open fields. Finally, an OF
ficer led us to another bunch
wheat chaff, scattered on tn
ground. 1t looked like the remnant
of an old haystack. Actually,
was the roof of headquarters.
This front sector is also held b
a Red Army guard unit and
had heard a good deal about tn
Georgian general who commands !
After one particularly hot engage
ment, he barked out, Bury tn
dead. send back the wounded-a
the rest go forward" %
Mai. Gen. Tshantshebadza locke
like kind of wardog when we MI
him. He is powerfully built ma
of 43, bald as billiard ball-a'
tually without hair on his head.
with an eagles beak for nose, dee
wrinkles around his eyes and tv
gold teeth in front to illuminate h
laughter. The general, I notice
wore two red-banner decoration
and three other medals.
Dimes in Generals Dugout.
We arrived at the generals dugo
at sunset and remained until mi
night. 1t was just an ordina
rough dugout and you could bare
crowd eight persons into the ge
erals alcove, but we managed di
ner there very nicely. Later,
had music over a handsome ca
<,,rod cory,,or, Arpoy fold raHiO n
general had great pleasure in usi
that German radio. In fact,
seemed to be having the time of
life. Georgians are renowned
their high spirits and their shal
bladed wit, as Churchill learn
when he met Stain.
yesterday, the Germans attack
us here on both f1anks," G