Evening star., 1943-02-14
Russian Front

In all the region east of the Dnieper
River, the Nazis strongest point is
Kharkov. 1t has been the supply base
for the drive against Stalingrad the
campaign in the Caucasus the control
of Rostov, the capture of the Crimea and
the whole scope of the Ukrainian opera
ton. Important railway lines converge
there. In normal times it is a mighty
industrial center, and one of the wonders
about the Soviet fight is that the Reds
have been able in masterful fashion to
conduct vigorous offensive in a mech
anized war without the use of Kharkov.
The Nazis took Kharkov in October
i941. There are signs now that they will
lose it in February, 1943. Early last
week the armies commanded by 1t. Gen.
Moskalenko smashed into the north side
of the city of Bedgorod, so miles above
Kharkov. In the dark of night second
Russian force attacked Bedgorod from
the south. Within day the city had
fallen and wide gap had been cut in
the German forces defending the ap-
proaches to Kharkov. Through the gap
all last week Russians spilled, to menace
Kharkov from the north. Advance forces
were within 10 miles of it, and Russian
shells fell in the city,
The Reds at the same time began to
flank Kharkov from the south. On Fri
day the irresistible
Reds launch Soviet armies thrust
FIonkinq Move into the city of Lozo-
vaya, rs miles due
south of Kharkov and only 60 miles from
the great Dnieper industrial region,
which lies to the southwest. Lozovaya's
capture cut the main railway between
the Donets Basin-great industrial area
and the Crimea. Furthermore, it drove
a wedge between the two large German
armies on the southern front.
The unfortunate effects for the NaZis
tn this determined Red advance lies not
so much in the Axis loss of terrain
which, after all, they took from the
Russians-but in the loss of great num-
bers of men and of whole armies. Since
the Russians in the autumn began their
offensive, the Germans have lost about
10000 men at Stalingrad. The whole
Caucasus force has by now been en-
veloped by the Reds, with all hope of es-.
cape cut off, while the Russians press
them in a narrow pocket against the
shore of the Black Sea and the Sea of
Azov. Contact between the Caucasus
armies and Rostov, the gateway to the
Caucasus, has now been cut off.
The prospect is in sight that another
great segment of Axis troops will be
put out of battle by the development of
the Russian operations in the Central
Ukraine, south Of Kharkov. The troops
that took Lozovaya passed through the
town of Kramatorsk on their way to
Lozovaya, and southwark from Krama-
torsk turned Red force headed for the
Sea of Azov. This army is cutting like
a knife across a wide region dominated
by the Axis, and if it reaches the Sea
of Azov the Axis armies in that region
the rich Donets area-w5l be trapped,
and with them will be trapped the Nazis
in Rostov. Encirclement. division,
erasure of armies-that is the Red tactic.
Erasure Of enough Axis armies in Russia
will weaken the Axis armies that try to
halt Great Britain and the United States
when the new fronts are opened nine
months from now.
Well to the north Of Kharkov the Reds
have taken Kursk and pushed on west
ward from that town. To capture Kursk
means to cut the rail line running north
from Kharkoy by which the Germans
have supplied in part their forces around
Orel. The Russian tactic consistently is
to impair supply lines as a method of
weakening the foe before hitting him
directly in battle.