The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1945-01-05
News "a
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Released by western Newspaper Union.
EVIDENCE LACKING ON
RUSSIAN TACTICS
paul MALLON :

sian and British politics in Europe
have delayed military victory, inves-
tigation will show considerable yes
and-no evidence.
The hinge-point is whether the
Russians held back on their march
through Poland to Berlin in order to
gobble up the Balkans and Baltic
states for themselves, whether they
deliberately delayed conquest Of
Germany proper.
Some Polish organizations
have claimed the Reds did not
throw in enough power in their
Warsaw drive last August, but
the military evidence shows they
put 30 divisions into that fray.
Also Warsaw is easier to defend
from attack from the east than
the west.
The Vista river is supposed to run
through the city, but actually the
important part of the metropolis is
on the west bank, which is higher
and commands the east bank from
which attack must be made. The
Reds appear to have made a real
fight and lost in August and then
let that matter 60 in favor Of their
southern campaign through Roma
mia, Hungary, etc.
Butted Real Wall.
The Nazi Notifications 10 to Is
miles inside the East Prussian from
tier are old Quilt before the wary,
and comparable with those we are
facing in the west. Here also the
Red army butted it's head against a
real wall in September and let the
fighting degrade into trapping.
Reports have been published
that a Russian drive is about to
start on the dormant Polish
front, but you cannot tell about
that until action starts and pro-
crosses far enough to gauge the
size of it.
The Nazis fought the same delay
ing tactics against the Reds in the
Baltic states as they used against
us in France, holding ports and
pockets of resistance with suicide
squads. Indeed, elements Of 10 Ger
man divisions still hold the Riga
estuary, multiplying the capture Of
that port as at Antwerp.
Russian Waltz.
On the other hand the southern
drive through the Balkans was a
waltz up to Budapest. After the
Prut river was crossed and Ploesti
was captured, Romania dropped like
a plum to Stain as did Bulgaria and
Yugoslavia. It is undeniable that
this military campaign has worked
Russia's way politically, not only as
to the Balkans but by keeping Po-
land on the rough edge until Polish
politics and Churchill settled the
Russian way. The Russians are fur
Their from Berlin at Budapest than
they were in Poland at the end Of
summer.
The facts from Europe seem in
wardly and outwardly to be kept in
a yes-and-no state. Indeed, there is
arising here an attitude like that OF
the New Deal senator whose state
ments you may have seen. He says
it is all British propaganda about
the Communists wanting the Greek
government or being involved in the
revolt.
eve hear conservatives yell
ing Communist everytime q peO-
ple's movement rears its head"
he says. This is the same line
familiar since the Spanish revo-
luton of ''It isl ON one side,
at isn't'' ON the other, with no
one getting at acceptable facts
of the truth.
Personally, for myself, I rely
! mainly on the judgment Of the mill
tary in such matters, but not on
politicians here or abroad. By and
large, military men care little about
| Communism or conservatives, but
want to win their war. They know
| more about the facts than senators.
Their Army and Navy Journal re-
hected the viewpoint of a large seq
ment of the defense services, al
though other army experts are in
clined to give Russia the benefit Of
doubt, at least until they see how
big a drive now develops in Poland.
| In this kind of yes-and-no> game
Of news from Europe, where skilled
propaganda forces are at work in a
life and death struggle for power, it
is necessary that senator's, as all
citizens, try to ascertain and adver-
tise provable conditions such as the
Communist connections of European
cabinet members, or lack of them,
and to be equally alert to the solid
evidence of British use of pressure
and power. That is the only way to
defeat propaganda.
| It is difficult for officials to say
explicitly what caused the trouble
In Greece, yet the inner evidence
here plainly suggests the purpose Of
the revolt. It is reported through
subterranean official avenues of
communication (army men and sem