Evening star., 1945-04-08
Defeat of Germans
Like Civil War End
Lees Surrender at Appomattox
Set Precedent for We Day
BU John II. Cline.

BIZ John II. Cline.
1t was on the 9Th of April, 1865
just 80 years ago tomorrow, that Gen.
Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army
of Northern Virginia. Within a few
more days all of the Confederate armies
had stacked their guns and the book
had been closed on four years of bloody
civil war.
Most of the actors in that grim drama
have passed on, but few of them are
still alive as another April arrives to
witness the closing stages of another
great war. And as these old soldiers
look back over the years they can
hardly fail to be impressed by the
striking similarity between the death
of the Confederacy and the disinte-
grafton of the Third Reich which is
taking place before our eyes.
The parallel is one which cannot
| be pressed to far. There are important
points of difference between the two
events, and some of the similarities
are more apparent than real Never
theless, in the overall picture, the
comparison is remarkably close, so much
so that one may safely say that in
| no other case have the endings of two
| jor wars been along such identical
| lines.
In this war with Germany, as in the
last days of the Civil War, defeat has
| overtaken those who fired the first
shot. In the case of both armies, the
brilliance of early victories and the
| legend of invincibility were superseded
l by hopelessness and despair. The Con-
J federate "break-through" at Petersburg,
| probably the first of its kind, was con-
| ceiVed in the same spirit of desperation
that inspired last Decembers break
| through by Won Rundstedt in the Ar
dennes. Each enjoyed its brief moment
| of success and each had similar dis
| astrous consequences. Finally, the Con-
federate Army, like the Germany Army,
| found itself hopelessly trapped between
! superior forces and compelled against
| its will to fight a tWo-front war which
| could have but one conclusion.
For purposes of this comparison, the
| is cast in the present role of the Soviet
| forces. And there is much to support
| the analogy. Known as the western
! Army the troops commanded by the
| Fighting Prophet were a formidable
! fighting aggregation. Between the sum-
mer Of 1868 and the spring Of 1865 they
| marched more than $500 miles, equally
| cOntemptuOuS of the Confederate armies
which tried futilely to stop them and
/ the obstacles raised by weather and
terrain. The story of Gen. Sherman's
march to the sea is well known and
was a truly remarkable achievement
But his northward march in 1865 from
Savannah to Goldsboro, N. c., while
| less familiar today, was probably his
| greatest accomplishment of the war,
Sherman began his march on Janu-
| airy 10 with 10000 men. Ahead of
| him lay 425 miles of forests, swamps,
rivers and endless mud, not to mention
! the Confederate forces under Gems.
| Beauregard, Hardee and Bragg. But the
! Confederates, like the Germans, grossly
underestimated their opponents ability
to conduct a winter campaign. Hardee
| was confident that Sherman would not
| be so foolhardy as to make the attempt
| Even the able Gen. Joseph E. john
ston, who did not have an active COM
| mand at that time, was quoted as
| saying that my engineers have re-
| ported that 1t was absolutely impossible
for any army to march across the lower
| portions of the State (South Cardinal
! in winter But Sherman even then
was marching. His men waded through
! swamp waters up to their waists. and
! the artillery and the wagon trains fol-
! lowed. Their clothing froze on the
! march and some nights they slept in
! trees These tough men from the West
/ crn plains split saplings and laid their
| own corduroy roads, fought the rebels"
| foraged for food and pushed on at the
| incredible rate of II miles a day Within
seven weeks, including halts, the i'm
possible had been done, and Sherman's
invincible army, united with the forces
under Gen. Schofeld. was encamped at
| Goldsboro, only 100 miles from Peters
| burg.
Meanwhile, the gallant army under
Gen. Lee, the ragged, starving veterans
of so many brilliant campaigns, had
come to the end of the road On March
25, Gen. John B. Gordon, with picked
force, had tried to break through the
Federal lines besieging Petersburg, in
tending to seize the forts in the rear
and smash the Union left. Should this
| plan succeed, it was hoped-a hope born
| of sheer desperation-that Lee might be
able to send part of his force to join Gen.
| Johnston, who had taken command in
North Carolina. Thus strengthened
Johnston was to crush Sherman and
then march northward to unite with
Lee so that the combined forces could
attempt to smash the Union Army under
| Gen. Grant.
| Gen Gordon struck before daylight on
the 25th. The attack was favored by
almost complete surprise and the Union
line was broken. AS the sun rose, it
seemed for a moment that success might
be the reward of recklessness, but the
startled Union forces were rallied Con-
federate plans miscarried and the assault
was beaten off-with heavy losses that
Lee could not afford and which he prob
ably should not have riSked. By that
time it had become evident that Rich
mond and Petersburg could not be held.
The only hope was to abandon the