Evening star., 1943-12-07
1eheran 3-WaY Drive
Gives Nazis Problem
Of Disposing Strength
By the Associated Press.

LONDON, Dec. THE Teherar
promise of Allied drives from the
east, west and south confronted
Germany today with the problem o.
dlsposing her numerically inferior
forces in an effort to avoid destruc.
ton by the mightiest military array
the world has ever known.
Against the combined strength O.
the United States. Britain and Rus.
sia, Adolf Hitler now finds his once
proud military forces completely
outclassed by land. sea and air.
His soldiers are outnumbered BY
at least three to two, his air force i.
at an overall disadvantage of al
least three to one and the seas all
around his continental fortress are
dominated by Allied navies. More
over the Allied power on land, sea
and air daily is growing.
Germany at the very outside now
Is believed able to muster 800 divi-
sions which with nondivisional COM
bat troops, would mean a fighting
force of around 5,500000 plus $780,
900 to 1000 600 in the supply serv-
Ice and administrative jobs.
More Than Matched by Russia.
Almost certainly Russia alone can
more than match this. While fig
res Of Soviet strength are ultra
secret, military observers here
would be surprised if the Red Army
numbered less than $50 divisions
with a combat complement Of more
than 100000.
BY now the Russians own pro-
duction. plus lease-lend help, has
made Soviet equipment as plentiful
and as good or better than that of
the Germans,
Even if the Red Army only counts
20-odd armored divisions against
Germany's 30-odd, its unique and
much dreaded artillery divisions
probably give it an overall fire
power greater than that of the Ger
man Army.
The combined British and Amer
lean ground strength in the Medi-
terranean and Britain Is not yet as
great as the Russians but it Is GER
tsinly In the neighborhood OF q
ooo,o to 100000 and growing
steadily.
Two-Thirds Of Strength In East.
Because of the weight. flerceness
and skill of the Red Army, the Ger
man high command seems commit
ted inevitably to maintaining about
two-thirds of Its force on the east
ern front. Stalin on November s
said 207 German divisions faced the
Russians and since then even more
may have been thrown in to stem
the Soviet drives.
About 40 NaN divisions are known
to be deploved in France and the
Low Countries, u in Norway, 7 in
Finland, 25 in Italy and % in the
Balkans and Greece-leaving viz
tuauv no strategical reserve in the
accepted sense of a reservoir Of
trained first-rate troops held far
from the battle lines to be thrown in
on any front.
The German air force. which once
SS tIlc IllpSU ulcduVd VI I1itANI
weapons. Is an even weaker link in
the doomed military chain.
The best estimates here now are
that the German air force can
present a front-line strength of no
more than 200 to l 500 bomhers and
$500 to 5000 fighters. Instead OF the
traditional reserves of two planes on
the ground for one in operation, she
probably can count on less than half
that backlog, which is necessity for
long, hard operations.
3.00o Heavy Bombers.
Here again Russia slone may be
able now to match all the German
power. and certainly the American
British contribution is far greater
relatively in this sphere than on the
ground
1t is obvious from the scale of the
present aerial offensive from the
west that the RAF fleet Of heavy
bombers must total upward of 1000.
while the United States Army Air
Forces, by Gen. George c. Marshall's
own testimony, had upward of 1000
In the United Kingdom in early
autumn.
Figures on fighters and medium
bombers which will play such a great
role in any invasion are much less
easy 10 estimate, but if the COM
blned British American fighter
strength in the Mediterranean and
the United Kingdom were less than
twice the German air force total it