The Wilmington morning star., 1944-03-28
Interpreting
The War
BY KIRKE L. SIMPSON
Associated Press War Analvst

0SS"SA"sou IrcSs war analyst
Russian forces poised along tou
east bank Of the Prut River ana
now holding the Kamenets-P odolsk
key to the Cernauti gateway to
the Siret Valley are aiming ths
most deadly offensive blow Of tha
war at German resources.
They have done more than rou+
enemy invaders from the southern
Ukraine except for Nazi divisions
virtually trapped in the Nikolaev.
Odessa pocket. They are aligned
to pass definitely from an often.
sive-defensive strategy to an az.
gressive offensive that could dea,
Hitler's armies the most damag.
ing blow yet struck at them bv
the United Nations war fellowship.
The crucial front the Germans
must hold in Rumania if they arc
not to lose their most vital war
resource. Rumanian oil is the
stretch of the Siret River above
its junction with the Danube near
Calati. The Prut and the Siret on.
tering the Danube close to each
other, afford the Nazi a water
guarded defense line linking tba
Danube delta with Carpathians and
Transylvanian Alps. The wide span
Of open country from Galati north.
westward to the mountains and
protected only by the Siret River
is the vulnerable sector of the Nazi
indicated deployment to cover Plo.
est and its vital oil installations
1t seems clear that both the Prut.
and the Siret fronts have been Rus.
sian outflanked to the north and
northeast, however, and that con.
verging Russian mass attack 10
break through to Ploesti is now
developing. Russian capture of Ka.
menets-P d Is X has definitely
opened the way for a Red army
surge down the Siret Valley snap.
ping the Lwow-Bucharest railway
last north south communication
line east of the Carpathian Noun
tain wall in German hands. 1t has
also effectively covered the right
flank of the Second Ukrainian Ar
my southwark on the Prut against
eny possible major German attack
from the north.
On the Prut the Russians We're
last reported less than 200 miles
from Ploesti, the great Rumanian
oil center from which pipe lines
run to the Black Sea and to the
Danube through the iron gate Of
the River Run.
| By every indication Russian
strategy in the bitter fighting in
the Ukraine and southeastern Po-
land has been aimed for weeks at
isolating the upper sector of the
Danube delta in Rumania for a
crushing blow at Nazi oil re-
sources. Whether the attack also
is to be pushed into the Carpathian
passes now in sight of Russian
troops and giving access to Hun
gary and Czechoslovakia is open
to doubt.
\ Turkish reports indicate the Ger
mans are using their seizure Of
Hungarian roads and railroads to
rush heavy forces southeastward
for a desperate stand in the Dan
ube delta. They are entirely cred
ible in view of the imminent dam
, ger in which the Ploesti oil hub
stands. Its loss or destruction by
Russian bombers would be a Grip
ping blow to the whole German
war effort afloat, aground or in
the air. Rumanlan oil not only pro-
vides the Nazis with the bulk OF
their highest aviation fuel but
with lubricants for all high-duty en-
gines and machinery.
For that reason the impending
Nazi-Russian battle of the Danube
delta could be one of the decisive
engagements of the war, the fore
runner of German collapse.