The Wilmington morning star., 1943-08-14
> 'MoscoW3Dateline j.

ing competently a tremendous
amount of .outine. Tall, dark,
souare-jawed. clean-shaven, dark
hair parted on the left, he looked
like the kind of man who, in Amer
ica or Englacd, would be rising
captain Of industry or progres.
s.ve young president Of bank.
Here, he was a leading officer in
the service Of the state, like many
we were to see, carrying out re-
sronsib'e tasks with energy and
efficiency. <c. -.- -.r.+....
Sitting. around the dining-room
table, on which cups of tea and
platters Of sandwiches had been
stacked we heard General Soko-
iovsky outline quietly ana simply,
the situation on his front.
'"The Blitzkiieg, in essence, has
been converted to blitz destruction
Of German men and material" he
said. THE Blitxkrieg failed in the
sense that something has develop
- now like continuous grinding
of men and material, closely re-
se1nbling the f. attic of Verdun, only
ten or one hundred times greater
than that, because the means of
obstruction in our hands are so
much greater" ~~....
He advanced four reasons for
the failure Of the Blitzkrieg and
stabilization Of the western front:
the will of the Russians to fight,
Increased production of arms, the
weak rear of the Germans, and
the loss by many Nazis Of faith
III the mvincjbility of their own
ARMY.
"On large part of the front,
the Germans are already digging
ill.," he said. For hundreds, al
most thousands Of kilometers,
they are now on the defensive.
What lies ahead of them is trench
warfare, mud. Russian roads, and
winter"
The Germans did have one more
offensive spu-t left on that front,
which they we're to start two weeks
later against Moscow, but which
was doomed to failure. After that,
for more than. a year to :, come,
they were to stay, dug in their
lhcles on that front, as Sokolovsky
predicted. The accuracy of his es-
Et;mate Of the situation, at the time
he spoke, we were permittd to
see. on the very front lines.
4 About midcight that night, aft
er talking awhile longer, the gen
e1aI packed up his notes and nod
ded to his aide They pressed their
WAY through the. admiring throng
CT walters and maids who had
gathered In the doorway and went
back to their headquarters. =, We
stood IN line to wash under the
single faucet at the end of the
second floor of the International
Hotel, and climbed into iron cots,
three i'll rom. We were aWak'
ened by 1870 am: the next morn.
ing by the next act in the aeria
drama that began the night before
with the bonn Ding of the SmolensA
airport. '-s
The Wanna afraid sirens
whined, the anti-aircraft guns sci
, up their roar. there came h {
drone Of planes, and then, sudden
~, sthe shrek of falling bombs
One fell direc,ly across the street
from the hotel, blasting in oul
windows. A shower Of glass
sprayed across my bed. In a single
movement 1 went out of that bed
hack across ihe room, and, under
another bed by the door. Two 9th
el. correspondents were already
there. We waited, breathless, fol
the next bomb in that string. Il
never came. Instead. there came
the song Of fighters, rising to meet
Tire enemy. The drone of planes
faded INTO the distance. We could
breathe again
Come see this" someone shout.
> ed. "Anurov has been framed
We ran down the hall to the
censor's room. and found him ly
lLg ruefully in bed, wooden win
dow frame lying across his ankles
and chest. Once he was Olsen
gagged, we discovered that tn {
: frame and glass had done him nj
more damage than a 1ew bruises
tLook at this" someone e s. F..
shouted. 1.-THE house across tn .
, street has been hit t.
We looked out to see a few for
l 1orn folks digging into the wreck
age of thatched cottage, bring
ing out body Margaret Bourke
White hustled out to photograph
those poor people in their moment
Of mourning: The rest of us tot
te1e snakily to breakfast. There
we wee told, nine planes h a q
come, apparently in reprisal fol-
The Smolensk bombing, and killed
.