Evening star., 1944-06-22
Three Yeurs Later


At dawn on this day three years
ago, heady with the wine of his
immense victories in the west and
dreaming a wildly vaulting dream
of world conquest, Adolf Hitler
turned suddenly to the east and let
loose the lightning upon his whilom
ally
Though months earlier they had
been warned by American officials
that such an attack was coming,
the stunned Russians were sent
reeling back by it's first awful i'm
pact. On to Leningrad. On to
Kiev. On to Kharkov. On to
Taganrog On to Smolensk. Vio-
lence and more violence. Death
and more death. Victory and more
victory. There seemed to be nothing
that could stop the mighty, the
precise, the all-powerful Wehr-
macht.
BY summers end in that fateful
year, one could count on the fingers
of one hand the number of British
and American military experts who
did not believe that Russia would
be forced into an ignominious sur
render within the next sixty or
ninety days Indeed, less than
four months after he had opened
his assault, Hitler himself exultantly
proclaimed that this enemy is
already broken and will never rise
again." Who does not remember
those days? Who does not remember
how in December, after Japan had
struck at Pearl Harbor, the po-
tential prospect for America was
one of being eventually encircled
by enemies holding sway in both
the great oceans washing our shores
enemies in a position to use all
of the British Isles, all of the con-
tinent of Europe, all of the Eastern
Hemisphere against us?
The prospect, however, never ma
terialized, for with unforgettable
heroism and sacrifice, pouring out
rivers of their best blood in defense
of the land they loved, the Russian
people somehow managed to hold
on. But that was not the end of it:
When the first agonizing winter
was over, the Nazis struck again,
this time in a fashion more deadly
than ever-down into the Crimea,
deep into the Caucasus, clear to
Stalingrad astride the Volga. Now
came the Red Arny's blacklist hour.
But now, too, came the turning of
the tide, starting in September,
1912 The Russians hit back at
Stalingrad; Montgomery smashed
Rommel at Ell Alamein: British and
American armies invaded North
Africa; and all the while our Allied
air power in Britain was striking
with ever-mounting violence at the
heart of the Reich.
The rest of the story is too fresh
to need reviewing. A glance at the
map is enough to remind us of all
that has happened since Hitler
reached the f1oodtide of his con-
quests at Stalingrad Today, with
a new front expanding ominously
against him in France and with
other fronts in the making, every
thing is in such swift ebb for this
man-this man who planned never
to flght anything but a one-front
war-that no matter where he casts
his eyes, whether up or down or
around him, he can see nothing but
catastrophe bearing relentlessly
down on him.
AS for the German people, on this
third anniversary of the invasion
of Russia, they must begin to realize
that Hitler has led them at long last
to the edge of fearsome abyss and
that millions of their youth have
died for nothing better than his
warped ambition which, in its wreck
age, adds up to one of the most
wicked and appalling utilities in the
history of the world. This day, then,
while a fit time for mutual Russian
and Allied congratulations, is for the
Reich a time for the deepest kind Of
contrition and remorse Never, GER
tainly, was it better or more grimly
demonstrated that they shall perish
by the sword who live by it.