ENGINEER ORGANISER OF SOVIET’S GREAT OFFENSIVE

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23813, 5 December 1942, Page 4

ENGINEER ORGANISER OF SOVIET’S GREAT OFFENSIVE

\IA RSHA L TIMOSHENKO

[By C. L. SULZBERGER]

[This American defence of Stalingrad which, written at the el ,f ht^in t a in J showed the Russian Commander's ability i n as the author justly mamtai “■ Ti ™ os henko has undoubtedly played a major defensive warfare at its campaigns, in 1941 against Moscow, and part in defeating both Volga.]

The stubborn defence of Stalingrad by an outnumbered, ° i V t ß un ! ied sian army is the fourth major operation of the war in Eastern E .“ r °P e in which the time schedule, and mere fore the ultimate plans, of the German General Staff have been upset by the obstinate determination and organising ability of one man. Marshal Timoshenko’s terrific senes of counter-attacks round Smolensk, when he commanded the Red Armies on the central front in July, August, and September, 1941, cost the Wehrmacht its first serious losses of the present conflict and tingea von Bockeventual victory on that sector with a very red and Pyrrhic stain. That preliminary holocaust and its resulting delay for reorganisation took the momentum out of the Nazi advance and eventually saved Moscow. When, late in the summer of 1942, Timoshenko was shifted to the southwestern command he was able to redistribute and energise the remnants of Budenny’s forces— which had been retreating without clase since the inception of hostilities —to retake Rostov from a German vanguard and slam the door to the Caucasus for another year. During the following winter he organised the counter-offensive in which the Russians seized the Kerch Peninsula of the Crimea, thus bolstering the defensive position of Sebastopol and, in all likelihood, delaying the fall of that fortress, a necessary preliminary to any all-out Nazi Invasion of the Caucasus area.

been carried on into war. Timoshenko sought to eliminate humiliating forms of punishment. In instituting his sys. tern the Marshal was helped by the fact that all Red Army officers come from the ranks of the people—as indeed they would have to—peasants, workers, woodsmen. These officers, unlike those of the Tsar, are close to their men psychologically and m background. That fact facihr-fyl Timoshenko’s big miracle. No mill tar Jr expert in Moscow, early m 1940, coulß have foreseen the change from a still unwieldy workers’ and peasants’ army to the solid units which have fought so valiantly.

Hands Like Shovels

Biding Their Time

And now, by a heroic and desperate defence at the Volga bastion of Stalingrad, Timoshenko has once again shattered Hitler's plans. Each week gained by this persistent stand enabled the Russians to improve their defensive positions in the vital areas oi the south-eastern Caucasus, Moscow, and Leningrad,

Burly Marshal Shaposhnikov, priest’s son and former Tsarist colonel, who is Soviet Chief of Staff, and Stalin, who took over from Timoshenko the position of Defence Commissar, have consistently followed a passive scheme of warfare, awaiting the moment when United Nations strength was sufficient to seize complete initiative. Continually, the Russians have sought to withdraw, maintaining their forces intact, until the time came to strike major counter-blows, slow up the Germans, force them into a static positional warfare, and eventually crush them. The man on the field who, more than any one else, appears to be successfully accomplishing this programme is Timoshenko. Timoshenko has yet to demonstrate the ability to execute rapidly the movement of large bodies of troops on the attack. That revelation may soon be unfolded. In defence he is magnificent. His chief of staff, Lieu-tenant-General Vassily Sokolovsky, once described Timoshenko’s fundamental strategy to this writer as one of "blitzgrinding.” It is to wear the German war machine down, to chip it gradually to pieces. This is the tremendous importance of Stalingrad. To Timoshenko it does not fundamentally matter where the sustaining strength of the German army is bled from it. He is determined to destroy the manpower which upholds the Fascist political structure.

Timoshenko, a leading engineer of the modern Red Army, and perhaps the ablest individual demonstrator of its efficacy, looks like the popular idea of a Russian soldier. He is enormous in stature—well over six feet and weighing more than 200 pounds. His hands are like shovels. He is an expert horseman, although he needs a husky steed. He lives very modestly in normal times. He likes sport, especially riding and ski-ing. His personal strength is evident in the sense of actual force, as well as in that of stamina and resistance, and his career is punctuated with testimony to both phases. He is a tremendous figure, with perpetually shaven head, grey eyes, and heavy rough features. He talks in a deep bass voice, frequently gesticulating. He was born in 1895 at Furmanka, Bessarabia, near the mouth of the Danube, of the very poorest peasant class. His formal education ceased before high school, and he went to work as a day labourer. In 1915. he was called up for the Tsar’s army and trained as a machine-gunner. He was then transferred to the cavalry, and when fighting near Riga got into a row with one of his officers, whom he beat. He was court-martialled and imprisoned. In February, 1917, the 1 democratic revolution broke out and he was saved from sentence which might well have been death. In a surprise attack he captured Rostov from the White Army during the civil wars, bagging 250 officers dining af, the city’s leading restaurant. As he was taking over the White divisional headquarters the telephone rang and he answered. A White officer was on the line. He said: "The railroad station is being threatened by the Reds.” Timoshenko replied: "Take it easy. Everything is in order. Don’t send any trains away until to-morrow, when the situation is clarified." He then captured a large amount of rolling stock.

Strict Discipline

Although to the world at,large Timoshenko is known best for his positive victories at Yelnia and Rostov, undoubtedly his, greatest contribution to military history has been disciplinary and organisational. During his term as People’s Commissar for Defence from May 7, 1940, until Stalin assumed the post last summer, he accomplished a major internal reorganisation of tpe Red Army on the basis of weaknesses exposed in mobilisation and combat tests in Poland and Rumania, the Far East, and Finland. During that short period he stiffened morale, which had undoubtedly been somewhat disturbed .by lack of sensational quick success against Finland, and introduced disciplinary measures so strict that they were without precedent in the Red Army. Among other things, tjie standard of saluting was immensely improved. As far as possible this disciplinary system, introduced in peace time, has

Wide Experience Timoshenko’s military career is varied and complete. He holds all the highest Red Army for ability and \ personal bravery and several times has saved desperate situations by his own leadership at the front. He has been wounded several times, but his magnificent frame can absorb much punishment. His education was taken up after the civil wars and ne eventually com- * pleted the highest graduate and postgraduate courses of the military colleges as well as finishing at the special college for commanders and commissars created by the new Military Political Academy. He held all typd|| of command posts, had charge ofur various military districts, and even- J tually served .as Commissar for De- r fence. In 1933 he is known to have been abroad on a secret mission to study foreign armies. It is curious that young Timoshenko first met Stalin in that same city of Stalingrad, At that time, during-the civil wars, the city was called Tsaritsyn, and its valiant and successful defence under Stalin himself had already earned it the name of Red Verdun in Soviet history books long before the present battle. Timoshenko, then commanding a cavalry regiment, fought a bloody path through to the besieged city. That meeting began- a loyal relationship. Not long before the present war, Stalin was asked at a Kremlin dinner what would happen should Germany invade the U.S.S®Smashing the table, he replied; /We shall smite them with our iron fist. Timoshenko represents that fist, [Published in and by arrangement with the “New York Times.”] .