The Wilmington morning star., 1943-08-10
Interpreting
The War
By KIRKE L. SIMPSON

q the Nazl 'atte line in Russia
IS at stake in the Red arnor. Yia
drive to envelop the Kharko,, y
chor from the rorth, west and esst ",
If Kharkov falls, as seems
evitable the Germans evidonu AZ
must relinquish their prAcsr;a. cay
toe-hold in the Caucasus and a,.o louS
Late the whole Crimean penincm1o '%o'
as well as the Dnieper pIatsa',,
round which the great rivo ,Iau
makes Its southern bend. Haro;a
sevastopol ana even Odessa co,,Is ,V's
be Wrenched from Nazi hands o'au
L result of the battle raging nor4S
ard west of Kharkov. and the NJ Dom WI
onets basin could oe cleared
well at one stroke. 90
That seems to be the moan;
If Russian maneuvers in the fo,..rs
battle of Kh<rkov. POURING do,. VI
from the southwestern front VI
their own Kursk salient betwoo ",
recaptured Orel and Kharkov " Pea 5o,l
columns have already lasbo
ACROSS ell northern outlets of a.
Ukrainian Pittsburgh. cuttino !, .e aes
from Bryansk. They are in civil
li4g distance of the Kharkov.pnI
tava-Kiev railroad on their solth W
ward dive between Xharkov and
Sunny, and heading toward + ~.
lower crossings of the Dniener ,t
kremenchug and Dnieperonetro
vks.
Those river crossings have boor
the pivot of Russian operations IN
the Kharkov zone IN everv c.ro ~
paign. They were the target -,
the Timoshenko drive in tbe Sn~ioa
Of 1912 south of Kharkov tb5t
sought to han-string the second
great Nazi offensive that ended il,
the Stalingrad tragedy for tbe
Nazis. They Were the goal of tbt
Russian offensive last winter which
retook and neld Kharkov for
time but was baked Of decisive
success by early spring thaws in
The Dnieper watershed
Both OF those previous Russian
drives for the lower Dnieper cross.
ings came pe'ilously close 10 sue.
cess. Both were on a more mod
est scale than the new Red
onslaught, however. This time the
Russians are swinging a huge arc
deep ABOUT Kharkov from the
northWf st instead of the southeast
10 reach those bridges that span
the Dnieper and are vital com.
m,unica lion inks for the whole en-.
emy front south of Kharkov and
in the Caucasus and Crimea.
At captured Bogodukov on tie
Kharkov- Poltava railroad bout
midway of its 90-mile stretch. With
that link cut the only escape for
the Nazi garrison of Kharkov or
troops holding the line south Of the
city would be southwark along the
kharkcv-Crimea railway That also
is the only rail supply line for the
invaders in the Crimea or still
clinging to the Kuban bridgehead
ir the Caucasus.
1t seems obvious that the present
Russian enve.opment drive around
Kharkov is more boldly conceived
than any previous Red effort. Re
taking the city itself looks to be
mere incident of an attempt to
unhinge the whole southern flank
and throw it lack not only behind
! the Drleper but off the Dnieper
plateau.
And the Red break-through TO
Bogooukov has already rendered
the Bryansk pivot Of the Nazi line
to the north hardly worth holding.
Its connections with Kharkov have
been severed and if they are not
promptly restored to seady the
line E, e,acuatiOn of Bryansk ana
probably of smolensk also IS 10
! be expected
Russian capture of orel and Bel
ecrod nas broken the back OF the
whole German front 1t propapiy
did more to bring about the moi
Gated oolitico military crisis III
Germany thar even the tall OIL
J MEssolini. ,,.no+
, There is no reason to doubt tha'
Nazi military professionals deem
the situation n the east acute ana
calling Tor drastic measures Il as
leported from Madrid Hltlef IloS
been virtually shelved by MS gen,
erals, it probably is because ,,, nc
resisted their urgings Tor d gen
eral retreat IN Russia Oeiole
vas too late. ,o,r
And # NAV he too late even now