Nazi Drive To Caucasus

Evening Star, Issue 24002, 29 September 1941, Page 7

Nazi Drive To Caucasus

The ‘ Economist,’ pointing out the vitally important role of Turkey in any German attempt to reach the Caucasus this year, says; “The German plan, if it is really directed towards an immediate' ffbntal attack' upon’the' Caucasus, ■ must take into account both the vulnerability of the German western flank and the desirability of cutting the Russian defenders of the Caucasus of! from any source of outside supply Both these considerations involve the status and future of the only remaining shore of the Black Sea—the southern Anatolian shore. The fate of Turkey, is vitally bound up with the problem of securing undisputed German mastery on the sea flank of the Caucasus and cutting Iran from the Russian front. It is unlikely that Germany can muster by the Danube route ‘ and by control of Balkan shipping a force strong enough to annihilate the Russian Black Sea fleet, especially as Sebastopol, Novorosslsk, Tuapse, and Datum, not to spe<ak of beleaguered Odessa, _ are still under control Of the Russians. It would be a different story if the straits could be opened to .heavy units of the Italian navy. Here the Turks, according to the Montreux Convention, have complete discretionary powers.” In spite, however, of the steadilygrowing pressure which the Germans are stated to be exerting on Turkey, well-informed quarters in London believe that there is no reason to expect that Turkey will deviate from her policy of neutrality or her determination not to permit any infringement of her rights.

Gigantic Grapple Shaping In South Turkey’s Vitally Important Role (British Official Wireless.) Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright (Rec. 11.45 a.m.) _ RUGBY, September 28. The only news of the fighting in Russia reaching London to-day was of heavy fighting going on along the entire front. Rain is continuing to fall. Authoritative quarters in London regard this as a good factor in aiding Russian resistance. In the opinion of the majority of military correspondents the greatest danger in the Eastern Front comes from the armies under von Rundstedt, which are endeavouring to push across the South Ukraine to the Caucasus. The ‘ New Statesman ’ says: “ The weakest front of the three has turned out to he the Ukraine. The German advance guard on the shores of-the Sea of Azov is already dangerously far on the road to the Caucasus and its oil wells, which the Russians must hold at all costs, and which are more vital than the Suez Canal and Gibraltar together. Half of the reason everyone perceives. The wells, even if they were thoroughly wrecked, could in part at least, after much delay, be turned to the Germans’ use, but it is even a greater consideration that without oil the Red Army and Russia itself would fatally collapse. On these wells depend not only our ally’s planes and tanks, but the tractors.that drive his ploughs and feed both army and people. The mechanisation of agriculture is involved in this risk. Should the wells be lost Russia within six months would face both defeat and starvation. With that catastrophe our own hopes of victory would vanish, for there is no other army on which we could rely to effect the liberation of Europe. This danger is still a long way off. The distance yet to be covered is forbidding. Odessa and the Crimea still hold out. The mountain ranges are formidable and on this march the Germans would have exposed over vast distances an uncovered left flank, but for a stake so decisive they will use all their resources of daring and ingenuity.”

TREMENDOUS SITUATION. Mr J. L. Garvin, in the ‘Observer,’ also emphasises the danger of this front. “We must keep our eyes fixed on the tremendous situation now rapidly developing across the plains of Southern Russia in the wide and vital region between the Dnieper and the Don,” Mr Garvin writes. “Von Rundstedt’s massive operations look far beyond the Don ■ basin, with all its mining and manufacture. “ The invaders aim at reaching the Volga and the Caspian before Christmas. The size of this strategical plan reduces the swoop on France to a small scale. Yet, as our allies themselves well know for all their heroism, these anticipations of the next and greatest struggle are not fantasy but realism. “ As collateral movements the . Germans are opening their attack on the Crimean Peninsula, which lies out in the Black Sea like a stepping stone to the Caucasus. They are finding it a bristling fortress. Wo here must recognise, like our allies, three plain things, firstly, only now are we beginning to witness the culminating effort of the invasion : secondly, the whole fortunes of the Soviet may be staked directly or indirectly on the gigantic grapple now shaping in the south; thirdly, the fighting position of the British Empire in the whole Middle East may be profoundly concerned. From the Caucasus southward 1 common cause with our Russian allies may mean common battle.”