Evening star., 1943-10-18
Mystery. Clouds News
From Russian Front
Bu Mai. Georoe Fieldino =


OF what is happening on the Dnieper
River front in Russia. For two weeks
now, the Russians have claimed bridge
heads across the Dnieper north land
south of Kiev. and they have reported
widening and deepening of those
bridgeheads to the point where the cross
1ngs were out of range of the German
artillery. There have been hints from
Moscow of a double encirclement of
Kiev itself. But on Friday the Russian
Army newspaper Red Star spoke of
powerful German counterattacks-to be
expected at about this stage of the
game-and Sunday morning the CHS
correspondent in Moscow Bill Downs
spoke OF the battle of Kiev as one of
the great mystery battles of the war,
saying that in Moscow no one seemed
to know just how the fighting was going
or where it was taking place
That about sums up the Kiev situa-
ton as 1t is known now. The chances
seem to be that the Germans are max
ing powerful and perhaps locally sue
ceSsful counterattacks-but are these
fishing the old positions or are they,
like the great German counterattack
north of Poltava few weeks ago. in
tended merely to cover further Ger
man withdrawal, this time from the
whole Dnieper bend? There is a hint
in the German Sunday communioue that
the latter may be the case, the exact
fnl b,,t
being evacuation of the bridgehead at
zaporozhe, announced Friday, was car
r1ed out according to plan in the frame
work OF great disengaging movement
IN the east" One report says the Ger
man radio used the word withdrawal" )"
But does this refer to the withdrawal
from the old line to the Dnieper, al
ready effected or does 1T refer to the
withdrawal south of the Dnieper bend,
perhaps the abandonment of the Cri-
mea; or does 1t forecast a general with
drawal from the line of the Dnieper
back to the Bug or the Dneister?
There is no way to tell, as yet. Ger
tainly complete breakthrough by the
Russians at Kiev would imperil the
whole OF the German positions in the
Dnieper bend, and would be fiercely
resisted either to cover retirement from
those positions, or to restore the Ger
man hold on the Dnieper line. Certainly
the Russian bridgehead at Kromon-
chug-which the Russians seem to be
enlarging-would be an additional
threat to these Dnieper bend positions.
Yet the natural result OF these threats
would be German counterattacks and
there has just about been time for these
TO be prepared in force and launched
The Russians communications are still
long and difhcult; the rains are falling
ana even down at Melitopol, where there
are no good natural defenses, the Ger
mans are clinging stubbornly to a part
OF the town and are throwing in fresh
troops in desperate counterattacks
so this article is written, not in sny
attempt to clear up situation still al
together obscure, but only to tie to-
gether few loose ends and provide
some background against which future
developments may be better understood.
II must by no means be forgotten
that both the Germans and the Rus
slams understand thoroughly the value
OF news as weapon. The thoughts of
both propaganda departments are fixed
on single object at this moment: the
forthcoming conference of Allied for
eign ministers in Moscow The Russian
newspapers are already talking about
this conference In terms which suggest
that the Russians want a Second
'front.' to be the primary object on the
agenda. There Is no better propaganda
for second front quickly than Russian
successes in the field, the suggestion
that one more blow will bring Germany
TO its knees.
II the Russians are really on the eve
OF great victory at Kiev, they might
very we'll announce it suddenly and
dramatically. just as the conference con-
Venes. On the other hand, if thev are
not ooing well at Kiev and elsewhere
along the Dnieper. they would do lust
what they are doing now-keep talking
in vague terms of victories Just around
the corner and avoiding definite claims
which might otherwise return to haunt
them.
The Germans for their part will GER
talnly try to slant their propaganda. not
70 establish any particular military
point, but to SOW as much dissension as
possible between the comforting powers.
Their tactics will be tactics of confusion.
plus the swift exploitation of anything
they can seize upon to try to show that
any one Of the Allies is trying to de-
ceive any OF the others They are quite
capable OF trying to build up a situation
IN which the Russians will seem to
have made military claims which the
Germans can then prove to be unjusti-
fed.
All OF which forms one of the manv
reasons why the military situation in
Russia Is not very clear at the moment,
tCopyrisht, 1943 New York Tribune, Incl
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