SOVIET WAR SUPPLIES

Opunake Times, 16 September 1941, Page 7

SOVIET WAR SUPPLIES

factories unhampered BEYOND REACH OF HOMES Within a lew days of the German invasion traiuloads of Russian svoundeu wore arriving in Russian centres of population, writes liic Stuckfioim cojrespondent of Die London Times. As a result tlic reawakened mass-anger of Russia’s millions was converted into a spontaneous personal determinatiou wlucli inspired ike individual workers and removed ad necessity for any additional official stimulation. it was easy in Russia to direct tliis determination into the channels of organised productive effort, as the vast machinery was there and had indeed' already been operating in a leisurely way lor some years, as a part of the five-year-plan system inaugurated in 1928. Thus no long interval was needed lor preparing and adapting industry to produce tne sinews of war, as the requirements of the defence forces Lad for more than 10 years taken first place in all Soviet Budgets and constructive plans lor industry. Vast reserves of equipment had thus been accumulated, and the quantity of these reserves of material is already astonishing tic invudec quite as much as did the quality of the troops which received the lirst shock of Hitler’s blitzkrieg. The Russian leaders still eonfiucntly believe tnat these reserves and the enhanced rate of production will enable them m large measure to maintain the .v„’eam of manifold supplies, and eveu to replace losses on the present lavish scale. Only the future can show whether their conhdence is justified. In any case tfie majority of the Russian factories, particularly those at work on defence production, are able to funiction practically without disturbance by the war, as they are largely beyond the zones which cun at oreseut be bombed. The transfer to safe districts of the industries most important from a military standpoint began eight years ago. Without entering into details, it may be said that industry went eastward and became based chiefly on the ores of the Urals and the limitless coal of the Kuznetsk basin. These complementary sources are certainly’ far apart; nevertheless, their products met at the giant works in the Urals and elsewhere, for instance, at Magnitogorsk, at Kuzuestk itself, and at Chelyabinsk, Ufa. Latousk, Perm, Sverdlovsk, Izhevsk, Prokopievsk, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Tomsk, Krasnoyarsk, and Irkutsk.

The Germans are complaining that the Soviet Government must have bidden sources of supply and must have constructed industrial works which Germany and other outsiders never suspected, otherwise they could not have survived the first destructive •onslaught, especially their losses ia aeroplanes and tanks, and brought up new ones to meet fresh onslaughts—including unkuowon new types. The German grievance certainly has some basis, for by restricting travellers the Soviet Government for many years has managed to keep a large part of

their military plans dark; this was J relatively easy in such a vast country | where roads were so few. j The German press expresses surprise i that the “discontented” Russian masses did not immediately seize the opportunity to strike at and overthrow the oppressive Bolshevist regime aa soon as the German liberators and protectors arrived. It failed to realise that the advent of the Germans must inevitably unite the peoples of the Soviet Union, Including even Stalin’s opponents, around Stalin himself as the sole central figure able to repel and eject Hitler’s devastating armies. The German press now admits that Germany counted on an early j revolt in Russia, but what has happened is a spontaneous industrial drive. In a contest between Hitler and Stalin, Hitler Jiad not, and has not, the smallest chance of support among the 'people’s of the Soviet Union, i