Evening star., 1944-06-07
'HYsferia Is Called
Big Part Of German
War Psychology
BY CONSTANTINE SIMONOv.

by CONSIANItNE SAMONOF,
| Foreign Correspondent of The Star and
| North American Newspaper Alliance.
| MOSCOW. - Certain events and
aspects of the war still beg for the
writer's pen long after they have
faded from the headlines.
The Tarnopol victory Is among
these. Tarnopol is one of the last
large cities captured by the Red
Army. I happened to be there dur
ing its storming and eventual fall.
Certain aspects of that battle.
rather of psychological than
military nature, impressed them
selves on my mind at the time.
First, I wish to introduce Col
Kucherenko, commanding officer of
the unit which assaulted and finally
captured the central part of the
city. 1t was with feeling of deep
satisfaction that observed the col
onel in his moments of triumph,
failure and regret through the tide
of battle.
Had Good and Bad Days.
1t was Col. Kucherenko and his
men who stormed and captured the |
strongest point of resistance of the
German defenses of Tarnopol. |
What's most important is that there |
was nothing amazing about it, In
fact, it is the officers like Col Ku-
cherenko that represent average skill |
in the conduct of the war and the |
general fighting standard of the
army, which with ever greater reso-
luton and poise is winning the war. |
I saw Col. Kucherenko on his good |
and bad days. On one day his SOL
diers had taken possession of SO
houses held by the enemy and it |
seemed that any minute they'd break |
into the center of the city and score
a victory the next day.
I was at his side when that same
tomorrow brought failure, and the
colonel, seeing his men could wrest
no more than two houses from the
enemy, fumed and sulked. I also
had occasion to observe the colonel |
When his troops broke into the CEN
ter of Tarnopol and captured it, full
filling their mission. That day the
colonel was contented and happy.
Son Served as Aide de- Camp.
On the third day of my stay with /
the colonel 7 learned quite by
chance that his youthful aide-de-
camp who accompanied him every
where was his only son.
The absence of posing is char
acteristic of the Russians. In
speaking of Tarnopol I don't wish
to bellttle the stubbornness of its
German defenders. Yet it's here
that I must speak of posing and
hysterla as a requisite element of |
Naz1 war psychology. I came face
to face with it the day Tarnopol
was captured. In the subterranean
passages of the city castle and the
Dominican Church I had occasion
to speak with countless prisoners
of war.
What tried to find out and un-
derstand was what made Germans
cling so desperately to Tarnopol.
In my conversations with German
prisoners got the truth pure and
simple.
AS rule the Germans fought for
ther own personal salvation. In
order to keep their fighting morale.
they were maintained in a con-
tlnual state of anticipation. In the
morning they'd be told that that
same evening reinforcemer1ts were
due. When evening came they
were assured early next morning
that help was sure.
At the beginning of the siege the
report did contain some grain of
truth, but towards the end it was
bluff pure and simple.
That the garrison was doomed was
obvious. The morale of its de-
lenders was sustained by hysteria
and was spending itself quickly. The
fact that all the Nazi defenders
OF Tarnopol were decorated at the
moment when nothing but death
and captivity awaited them was
itself an act of hysteria. On the
pretext that reinforcements would
arrive any moment and save the
garrison, wounded Germans were
hauled at random into underground
passages and in the course of the
last three days of battle were given
neither medical attention nor food. |
l affirm this on the basis of the |
testimony of any number of Ger
man war prisoners.
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