Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1942. THE RUSSIANS’ STAND.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 62, Issue 305, 7 October 1942, Page 2

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1942. THE RUSSIANS’ STAND.

The military experts must decide the question of a second front to aid Russia; all the world will pay tribute to the Russians for their sustained display of valour and endurance. The estimates which Mr Wendell Willkie recently made of the sacrifices the people of the Soviet have made are of deep significance. The Red Armies have lost 5,000,000 men killed, wounded or missing. The number is hard to comprehend. It is more than three times the total population of New Zealand, but the five million were all able-bodied men of military age, the fine flower of Russian manhood, the cream of the'Red Armies. They have beeh lost in 15 months of fighting, whereas in the 53 months of the last war the British Empire’s total casualties amounted to 3,260,000, or two-thirds of the present Russian total. Even the manpower of the Soviets must be sorely depleted by so heavy a toll. To speak of its being inexhaustible is to foster a dangerous illusion. At the beginning of the struggle the Red Armies were based on a population of 170,000,000. In a statement made at the end of his visit to Moscow Mr Willkie stated that at least sixty millions of these are now slaves in Russian territory over-run by the Germans. So Russian armies, industries and transport are now based on a population of 110,000,000. They have lost numbers more than equal to the population of the British Isles and Canada combined; they are left with fewer people than Germany and Italy alone can muster, to say nothing of Axis allies and the production of occupied Europe. Certainly the Axis countries have other fronts to man, but they are also at a much higher stage in industrial development, enabling them to exploit their manpower to better advantage. If the various factors are weighed, it becomes clear why in recent battles the Russians have repeatedly found themselves outnumbered.