The Wilmington morning star., 1943-08-24
Moscow Dateline
!3ZI3tE27 C. CASSIDY
Z!&2[:131L;4z c. (a:S81l2

forth tumultously, with the Rus
SLAMS attacking in the Kharkoy
front, the Germans in the Izium'
Barvenkovo sector; then the Ger.
mans counterattacking on the
Kharkov front, the Russians in
the Izium-Barvenkovo sector.
MEeh of the flash had been TAX
en- out of the German offensive.
Cautious pressure was substituted
for their once reckless sprints.
They counted more heavily on avi-
alton preparation, employing as
many as Is bombers at t i m e
against half-mile stretch of front
making as many as a thousand
flights day over single points OF
importance. They brought o u
their new fighters, the Messer-
chmitt 1O9F and Focke-Wulf 1873.
They uncovered also new anti
tank weapon, a highly mobile 49,
millimeter gun, transported on it's
own wheels, which gave the old
panzer team of plane and tank
new running-mate. This W S
the same gun that caused the
British paiful surprise in the
western desert of Egypt. A fuller
exchange of military information
between the Allies might h a v e
spared the British and Russians
some of the hardships Of both
having to learn about this gun by
bitter experience. It. was wei l
known as an anti-aircraft gun in
Spain and France. The surprise
lay in its conversion primarily in
to an anti-tank gun, its mass pro-
duction, and the tactics with which
it was employed.
The Russians struggled wi t h
their enemy in the Ukraine for
two weeks. They obtained expert
ence which was to prove valuable
less than a year later in the sec
ond winter campaign. They also
obtained the obvious advantage of
fighting at time and place chosen
by themselves, rather than leave
the Germans to select their own
ground.
The Sovinformburo summarized
the results of the battle, May 30,
in a special communique. T n e
losses were estimated thus:
German: 10000 men killed or
captured, $40 tanks, up to 200
planes destroyed.
Russian: 5000 dead, 10000 miss
ing, 300 tanks, 124 planes destroy
ed.
The communique said the OBJ.
jective of the offensive was not
to take Kharkov, but to divert 30
German divisions of infantry, six
divisions of tanks, and large
force of artillery an d aviation
which had been concentrated op-
posite Rostov, a city which was
proving to be one, of the most
important-and most difficult to
defend-of the war. In this re-
spect some temporary success was
gained, for the Rostov sector it.
self remained quiet, the m i n
German offensive was delayed.
The foreign correspondents were
in a position to know that this
explanation was not simply an ex-
cuse Throughout the battle the
censors eliminated ny mention
that the offensive was designed to
capture Kharkov. This, incidental
ly, was one value to be derived
from Soviet censorship. The blue
pencil fell, not only on information
which might prove harmful to the
Soviet Union, but also on that
which the censor knew to be I'M
true. Some of the best indications
of the situation on the front came
from a close examination of the
censor's work. The dispatches that
went out from Moscow told, al
most without exception, the truth
as it was seen by the correspond
ents and confirmed by Soviet au-
thorities.
The communicates figures told
plainly the story of the difficulties
the Russians encountered in the
first large-scale offensive they un-
dertook without benefit of winter.
Seventy thousand m e n missing
meant an entire Russian army
lost somewhere in the fields of
the Ukraine, it's fate unknown. Ger
,ainly all those men were not cap
tured, some went to swell the total
IF dead. For Russian men do not
surrender easily.
The pangs they suffered were
aot the agony Of defeated, dying
army. They were the growing
pains of a young army, still to
each maturity. The materiel they
lost could certainly have b e e n
used in the later desperate de-
ense of the Volga, but the expert
ence they won was valuable. The
oattle of Kharkov was not one of
the bright Russian chapters of the
var. After its conclusion, it was
rarely mentioned.
The pace of the spring cam
oaign, meanwhile, quickened.
Hardly had the battle of Kharkov
lied when the propellers of hun
dreds of German bombers in
southern Russia started turning,
heir motors roared, and they
rumbled down t h ir runways,
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