Evening star., 1942-07-29
Mother VoIoo'

o'dii hPlSooAoii olIcH cillplOyeu UO
describe the great river which, to
Russia, is what the Mississippi is to
us. Even the geographical parallel
Is a striking one. Maps of the two
rivers, drawn to the same scale and
placed side by side, bring this out
very well. The Volga empties into
the Caspian Sea by a delta like the
Mississippis. Going upstream, and
following roughly similar northward
courses, Stalingrad corresponds to
VlckSburg, Saratov to Memphis
kuibyshev to Cairo, Illinois, and
kazan to st. Louis. Between Kuiby-
shev and Kazan the Volga receives
its largest affluent, the River Kama,
which comes down from the north
and rises in the Ural Mountains. II
the parallel is carried on, the
Kama corresponds to the Upper
Mississippi, while the Volga, bend
ing sharply northwestward beyond
kazan, can be likened to the Mis-
souri,. In its long westward upper
courses, the Volga drains the very
heart of Old Russia, describing a
great arc to the northWard Of Mos
COW, until its headwaters are found
in the Valdai Plateau, the height
OF land close to the Baltic and the
Gulf of Finland
tc - y,
worlds chief rivers can be gagged
by the fact that It's total course from
source to mouth is 1926 miles. That
is only 228 miles shorter than the
Mississippi. The Volga's economic
Importance is seen by the fact that,
with its tributaries, this river system
affords 10000 miles of navigable
waterways, That total exceeds the
Mississippi River systems $4,000
navigable miles. The reason is that
the fall of the Volga drainage basin
is more gradual than that of the
Mississippi Valley. Furthermore, the
Russians have built important canals
connecting the Volga system with
that of the other main rivers of the
country. 1t is therefore possible to
transport goods by water to almost
any part of the land.
The volume OF traffic on the Volga
and its tributaries during the sum-
mer months is enormous-much
greater than that on our Mississippi
River system. RusSiaS railways and
highroads are far behind ours, so
water transportation plays a more
vital role in Russia's economic life.
Most of the Oil which feeds the in
dustry and mechanhed agriculture
of Central and Northern Russia goes
up the Volga by tankers Yet that
indispensable through traffic from
the Caspian Sea would be instantly
stopped if the Germans should sue
ceed in reaching the west bank of
the Volga at even one point, because
artillery playing on the river at that
spot could sink all commercial craft
trying to pass by. That is the chief
stake for which the Axis and Red
armies are battling so furiously in
the big-bend region of the Don.
which approaches to within As miles
Of the Volga at its nearest point,
where stands the great industrial
city of Stalingrad.
Should the. Germans reach the
Volga, therefore, they would deal
Russia a body blow economically
and strategically. Russia's southern
armies would be virtually isolated.
And, by moving northward up the
west bank of the Volga. which
would solidly protect the German
right flank, Axis armies eventually
might cut the railway trunk line from
Moscow to Siberia and perhaps force
a bloodleSs evacuation of the capital
itself. With the exception of the
Volga, there is no natural defense
line IN Eastern Russia short of the
Ural Mountains which separate Eu-
ropean Russia from Siberia.
Those grim possibilities may never
happen. Yet they should be frankly
considered at moment when, in the
words OF its own official spokesman,
Russia is more seriously menaced
than at any time since the Mongol
invasion, exactly seven centuries ago.