Evening star., 1943-02-18
Many Locomotives
And Cars Captured
In Red Army Drive
Roll Network Supplying
Nozi Invaders Also
Cut by Big Offensive
BY DAVID M. NICHOL,
War Correspondent OF The Star and
Chicago Daily News.

Chicago Daily News.
MOSCOW, Feb. 1a.-As the Red
Army drives west and south. it is
not only cutting the railroad net
work on which the Nazis based the
supply Of a large section of their
long front, but perhaps equally i'm
portant, is capturing quantities OF
rolling stock and locomotives.
1t Is difncult always to reconcile
totals to prevent Implications, but
on the basis of the, communicates of
this month alone, 1t appears that
the Red Army has seized 140 loco
motives and more than so entire
trains, often fully loaded. The cap
ture or destruction of six German
armored trains is also reported.
The final cleanup of the Stain
grad area produced about one-third
Of this valuable booty. The sum-
mary communique announced the
capture, in the last phase of the
offensive, Of 56 engines and 1,125
cars.
Rolling Stock Abandoned.
The speed of the offensive west
OF Voronezh also cost the Germans
heavily in rolling stock, much of
which they were compelled to aban-
don. In the first weeks operations
In this sector, communicates report
ed the capture of 80 entire trains.
South of Rostov, the capture Of
this kind of equipment apparently
has been less frequent, but now, as
the drive moves through the indus
trial Donets Basin, figures are
mounting steadily, At the junction
Of Belgorod, northeast of Kharkov,
the Soviets seized II locomotives. At
Lozovaya, to the south, nine more
were taken, and at Voroshilovsk,
seven.
One Of the richest hauls appears
TO have occurred at Krasnoarmeis-
koe, only 80 miles north of the Azov
Sea, certainly one of the most i'm
portant points as far as the fate OF
the German forces west of Rostov is
concerned. On different days, the
cerned. On different days, the
Reds reported the capture there of
as locomotives and 500 cars.
Guerrilla bands, meanwhile, are
taking a steady toll of railway
equipment behind the German lines.
Derailing of trains is one of their
favorite activities. Reports an
nounced so far this month alone
credit them with smashing 81 loco
motives and more than 300 cars.
Most of these wrecks occurred in
January.
Communications Strained.
The significance of these figures
lies In the acknowledged strain
under which Nazi communications
already are placed. Railroads ad-
mittedly are one OF Hitler's biggest
problems. He has already stripped
Europe completely of all types OF
equipment in order to keep the
Nazi troops moving. If losses are
to be replaced equipment must be
shifted from other tasks and other
places.
Because the Soviet rail gauge is
wider, captured trains cannot be
used without alterations except in
those sections where Nazi engineers
narrowed the tracks-one of the
principal functions of the Todt
organization in the months after
the invasion of Russia began They
certainly never captured sufficient
Soviet equipment to be used on any
great scale.
The Red Army includes special
railway troops whose job it is to
destroy workshops and equipment
and generally make roads unusable
during retreat. Now they are re-
building at phenomenal speed in
the wake Of the advancing armies.
Even during the days of the rapidest
advance trains are operated to
within a few miles of the front line
(Ccpyrisht, 1e43. Chicsgo Daily News, Inc.)