Evening star., 1942-08-06
Peril in the Caucasus

Peril in the Caucasus
The crisis in South Russia grows
hourly more acute. Until the past
few days, Marshal Timoshenko's re-
tirement could be interpreted as a
strategic maneuver, trading space for
time until the moment when a gen.
eral Russian counteroffensive would
be militarily indicated.
Recent events, however, make such
hypothesis improbable. The present
position Of Timoshenkos army group,
especially on his left flank in the
Caucasus, is such as no commander
would voluntarily have placed him.
self in. The grim truth is that
this left flank has been strategically
sundered from the main body, massed
between Stalingrad on the Volga and
Voronezh on the upper Don. Multi
pie German drives southwark across
the lower Don on broad front from
Rostov at the rivers mouth to
Tsimlyansk, threaten to cut the Rus
sian defense line in the Caucasus to
pieces. The Germans claim to have
driven nearly 200 miles southwark
from the Don, and to have reached
the Kuban River, the only natural
obstacle before reaching the Caucasus
mountain range. Nowhere do the
Russians seem to be holding in this
region.
Perhaps the most ominous aspect
Of the situation is the absence of
activity on the Strait Of Kerch. A
German army Is poised on the Cri-
mean side Of that narrow waterway
which connects the Black and Azov
Seas, and sunders the Crimea from
the Caucasus. Strong Russian forces
have been stationed on the Caucasian
side, and a German crossing in face
of such resistance would be q costly
operation. But those Russian forces
are being so rapidly outfanked by
the German advance from Rostov
that, unless the German drive Is
checked, they must soon abandon
their position and allow the Crimean
army to effect a bloodless crossing.
Indeed, they may already be retreat
ing, because the Germans are OPP
Grating over the Kuban steppes, open
country ideal for mechanized war
fare. The Russian defense in the
Kuban is clearly short Of tanks and
motorized equipment. This is clear
from Moscow dispatches which en-
phasize the use Of airplanes and Co.'S
sack cavalry-poor answers to the
Axis mechanical columns.
Only less critical appears to be the
situation tn the Russian center, COW
ering stalingrad. There, Moscow
tacitly admits that the Germans are
gaining and have almost completely
occupied the big bend Of the Don,
which approaches to within so miles
Of Stalingrad and the volga. It. ID
unlikely that the German high COM
mand would try . direct thrust
across the intervening strip between
the two rivers on a narrow front,
More probable is a concerted action
from the bridgehead established at
Tsimlyansk, sweeping up the east
bank of the Don and taking Stalin-
grad on the flank while direct at
| tack Is launched on the front.
The far-reaching stakes involved
in the South Russian campaign are
emphasized by every word coming out
of Moscow. A dramatic dispatch from
the American correspondent, Lelanc
Stowe, states bluntly that German
conquest of the Caucasus would be
equivalent to losing the war for thu
United Nations. This alarming as
sertion, coupled with an urgent ap'
peal for second front" was natu'
rally passed by the Russian censor
Regardless of its intrinsic validity
this is a good indication Of the cru
cial situation in South Russia. Tn
climax of the campaign for tn
Caucasus and the Volga should b.
near.