NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 32, 8 February 1943, Page 4

NOTES ON THE WAR NEWS

EBB AND FLOW

TIDE OF WAR IN RUSSIA

Russia still occupies first place in the war news, with the great Soviet offensive steadily gaining ground ' everywhere in the south from Orel to the Western Kuban, near Rostov. Names of places left far behind in the original Axis drive for Stalingrad and the Caucasus are now coming back into the news with the Russian advance to the west. Izyum and Barvenkovo, on the Donets, recall the furthest point reached by Timoshenko's anticipatory probe in May last towards Kharkov and the Donbas, and also the starting point of the greater German offensive of 1942It was on May 13, 1942, that Moscow announced the opening of an offensive by Timoshenko's forces in the Kharkov sector. Berlin spoke next day of "defensive fighting against strong Russian attacks in the Donets" and reported a giant Russian tank described as an "armoured colossus." For a time Timoshenko's drive went well. The passage to the Donets River was forced and the Red Army extended its offensive on a 70-mile front north and> south of Kharkov, which itself was threatened from fairly close quarters. It was not then described as a limited offensive; Timoshenko's own Order of the Day to his troops called on them to begin "the decisive offensive against our vilest enemy." The fighting was heavy, and on May 18 Berlin reported that the situation was "well in nand." On May 19 the German general in command, yon Bock, launched a counter-offensive from Izyum to Barvenkovo, 70 to 90 miles south-east of Kharkov. This was continued with massed panzer units. On May 20 Berlin claimed that "strong enemy forces" were "encircled." By May 26. it was clear that the battle had reached a critical stage. On May 30 Berlin claimed that the battle for Kharkov had ended in a victory for the Axis j forces, and a special Soviet announcement from Moscow declared that the Soviet High Command had learned that the Germans had planned a great drive on Rostov and the Caucasus and that Timoshenko's operations were designed to forestall it. The results were, according to Moscow, that the Axis had lost 90,000 men killed and captured, 540 tanks, 1511 guns, and 200 aircraft. The Russian losses were 75,000 men killed and captured, 300 tanks, 822 guns, and 124 aircraft. A comparative lull followed in the Kharkov area. At the same time Rommel on June 21 captured Tobruk and began his drive towards Egypt. The Axis Tide in Flow. The Axis offensive of 1942 in Russia began on June 24 when yon Bock forced a withdrawal of the Red Army from Kupyansk (reoccupied a few days ago by the Russians). On June 28 the Germans attacked in the Kursk sector to the north and in severe fighting made some progress. Sebastopol fell after a long siege on July 1, and the Axis held the whole of the Crimea. A general Axis attack along the front from Kursk to below Kharkov followed in the opening days of July, the main drive being towards Voronezh. The Russians in the fiercest fighting of 1942 withdrew from Byelgrad and Volchansk, then Stary Oskol, recently again in the news, and the Germans reached the Don opposite Voronezh. Here for over a week the bitterest fighting raged and the Germans succeeded in penetrating into part of Voronezh. It is to be noted that the Russians realised that Voronezh was vital to their whole position in Russia south of and including Moscow, and they fought grimly, desperately, and successfully to hold it. So doing they | saved Russia and made possible the | present great counter-offensive. Into the Don Elbow, Meanwhile, the Germans, unable to extend their bridgehead over the Don at Voronezh, drove south and east into the Donets Basin towards Rostov and east into the Don elbow towards Stalingrad. Their progress, over easy I country not very strongly defended, was rapid. The places taken then have come like a film in reverse back into the news with the flow of the Russian tide after its ebb in July and August —Kantemirouka, Rossosh, Boguchar, Lisichansk. Millerovo, Voroshilograd. Kamenensk, Tsymlyansk—until on July 26 the Lower Don was crossed, and Rostov fell. By August 1 the Germans were at Kletskaya opposite Stalingrad and down on the Salsk River. Stages of Advance. Throughout August the Germans continued to advance, occupying the inside of the Don elbow and pushing [down towards the Caucasus. Tikhoretsk fell on August 6, and with it the main Black Sea-Caspian railway was cut. By August 10 the Axis attack | was being pressed through Krasnodar and Armavir towards the Caucasus and through Kotelnikovo towards Stalingrad. Within a week the Germans were at Mineralye Vodi on the way to the" Grozny"oilfield" and."the

Caucasus mountain passes. On August 22 the enemy forced a passage of the Don opposite Stalingrad and the real battle for Stalingrad began, raging with appalling fury for over ten weeks. In September the Axis Caucasus drive reached Mozdok and stopped on the Terek River. Throughout this month the Battle of Stalingrad raged with the utmost violence,, but by the end of September was beginning to turn in favour of the defenders by a slight margin.. -By October 3 Moscow was able, to announce an improvement in the position, but bitter fighting continued throughout the month. It was at the end of October that the Axis began its furthest push into the Caucasus through Nalchik, reaching the junction of the Ossetian and Georgian military roads over the Caucasus. This was the high water mark of the Axis tide on the flood in south-eastern Russia. Soon after this came, in November., the turn of the tide with the Russian flood beginning round Stalingrad and sweeping .the ebbing Axis forces back to the point from which they started. Holding Key Positions. Almost throughout the period of the Axis tide on the flood —end of June to end of October or a little later—there was fighting at Voronezh, and it was only a few days ago that the Germans were driven from the outskirts of the city and across the Don. Nothing shows the military capacity of the Soviet High Command in sharper relief than this selection of what spots to hold at all costs and what to relinquish temporarily. Thus were Voronezh, Stalingrad, and the near approaches to the Caucasus held against the heaviest onslaughts. So also did Leningrad hold out in a long, weary, dreary siege of sixteen months. The only place that succumbed was Sebastopol, and that only after the most devoted, heroic defence. In this tremendous ebb and flow of the tide of war in Russia no estimate of the comparative losses of the combatants can lay claim to much accuracy, but this may be said with positive assurance that at no stage have the Russians suffered any defeat comparable with the destruction of the Axis Sixth Army at Stalingrad. Berlin, when the i tide was flowing for the Axis, announced "terrific" Soviet losses in armies "encircled" and the rest of it, but in nearly every case the Russians extricated themselves from awkward predicaments successfully and in orderly fashion. In no case was there any debacle or disaster of magnitude. This capacity to withdraw fighting and making the enemy pay dearly for every yard of advance is one of the secrets of the present triumphant Soviet march forward.