The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-05-17

eIllSoned thlS long-Standing goal. dand-in-hand, it appeared, Ger many and Russia were planning to conquer Europe together Happily, Wents proved this alliance not to se what it looked.
 For by the spring of 1941, the Nazi machine, victorious on many rontS, still had long way to go. Russia's resources again looked very sweet Moreover. the long cherished German drive to the east must remain a blueprint so long as such dangerous threat stood poised on the Nazi flank.
 Nazi Estimate: 4 Months
 In any event, Hitler turned the whole tremendous weight of his military machine against Russia in June, 1941. The entire job, the Nazi generals figured, would take at most four months. What they had done before in Poland and France, they simply would do again on a larger scale: chop up the Soviet lines, annihilate the Red Army, parade into Moscow and write the peace in the Krem- lin.
 Accordingly, the Wehrmacht plunged forward June g in four major drives. Covering a 1,0OO-mile front stretching from the Baltic 7outh to the Black Sea- the Nazi of iensives were aimed toward CD Len- ngrad, the old Czarist capital in the north; (2) Moscow, in the north center; (3) Kiev, the Ukranian me ropolis on the upper Dnepr, and 4 Rostov, gateway to the Cau- easus at the mouth of the Don.
 Through the end of June, July and into August the campaign seemed to go substantially as the Germans had planned. The Rus sians resisted fiercely and scorched the earth as they retreated, but still they retreated. To the outside world 1t seemed that literally thousands Of towns and villages were being overrun and put to the torch by the invaders their population mas sacred
 The advance threatened Lenin- grad almost immediately from two sides. One Finnish army drove down the Karelian Isthmus toward the city from the north, while German force under Gen. Franz von Leeb raced through the Baltic states from the west. On Aug. l3 von Leeb's columns entered Novogorod, 100 miles below the an- cient capital, and two weeks later the historic siege Of Leningrad be- gan.
 Drive on Moscow
 The drive on Moscow started al moEt as fast. From East Prussia. German spearhead under Gen. Eco dor von Book swept through Poland and past Minsk, just inside Russia, within week. By mid-July armored vanguards had smashed through the rail center of Smolensk and were driving on Moscow, 230 miles be- yond.
 The push into the Ukraine fol- lowed a parallel course and went even farther. Gen. Gerd von Run stedts panzers ground through the former Polish metropolis of LwoW and burst westward onto the rolling plains and fat farmlands of the up- per Ukraine in l3 days. By July l3, their advance had engulfed the manufacturing city of Zhitomir 90 miles into Russia, and was menac- ing the tanning town of Berd!cheY. 90 miles southwest Of their goal at Ki.v.
 The Ukranian advance went more slowly from there, but on Aug. 22, the retreating Russians were forced 10 give their most dramatic demon- stration Of the Soviet scorched earth policy. blowing up their giant Sll0,- GOO. 900 dam across the Dnepr at Dnepropetrovsk, 250 miles below Kiev. Von Rundstedt claimed the capture Of Kiev, Russia's third city, three weeks later.
 On the long fourth front down along the Black Sea, Col. Gen. Ewald von Kle!st,s German and Ro- manlan armies fared equally well at first. Inexorably, they drove from Romania across Bessarabia and in- to southern Russia to surround Odessa, the Soyiet's second port, late in July. From there, they bat tered their way on to occupy sue secciyely the manufacturing city Of Nikolayev, Kherson at the mouth of the Dnepr, the iron mining cen- ter Of Krivoi Rog and the mangan- ese city of Nikopol in the Dnepr bend.
 Losses in Millions
 But spectacular as all these gains were, they were less than the Ger man timetable required. As the summer wore on, the fact that Hit Ter had made a monumental blun- der became pleasantly clear to the Allied world. The Red Armies were neither clumsy nor diSorganized, as he had supposed. Soundly equip ped and smartly led, they waged a new and devastating variety of de- fensive war, and they waged it with growing confidence as they tasted yuccess.
 The resulting battles now dwarfed everything that had gone before. Losses to both sides were counted in the millions. Tn key areas-Len- ingrad; Orel and Bryansk, below Moscow; Poltava. east of Kiev, and Odessa-struggles of immense pro- portions swayed back and forth. More and more frequently, the Rus sians' defense in depth" tactic sue ceeded in swallowing up and des- troying the Wehrmachts thrusts. Rarely did the Soviets permit them- selves to be trapped by the speedy Blitz. A stalemate threatened as the Russian leaves turned to brown and time began to desert the Nazis.
 On Oct 2, Hitler announced an all-out drive to capture Moscow and end the war before snowfall. By Oct. 1s, a desperate German charge had reached the rail hub of VyazAaa, l30 miles west of the capital. By mid ~,....u,i~ar {ha Red Armies were