Threat to Russia's Oil Supplies

Southland Times, Issue 24573, 23 October 1941, Page 4

Threat to Russia's Oil Supplies

A LTHOUGH the violent battle for A Moscow continues to monopolize public attention, there are now signs of an even more perilous situation in the far south. The most dangerous Nazi thrust in this region has been along the northern shore of the Sea of Azov. The Germans have occupied Melitopol, Mariupol and Tagan-rog, and are now only a short distance from Rostov, the industrial city at the head of the Sea of Azov and commanding the mouth of the Don river. The strategic importance of Rostov is emphasized in a cable message from London printed this morning. If von Runstedt’s forces succeed in capturing Rostov, or in crossing the Don above or below it, they will be in a position to cut off the Russian armies from direct railway access to the Caucasus and to increase very substantially the difficulties of supply through Iran. The two main railways from the south meet at Rostov. If they were cut, the Russians would be forced to obtain their Caucasus oil and such supplies as are reaching them through Iran either by a branch railway line which winds from the Caucasus through Stalingrad or by sea across the Caspian to Astrakhan. Both of these means of transport combined would be inadequate to carry the bulk of Russia’s oil traffic as well as military supplies from Britain and the United States. Thus it is clear that the capture of Rostov would deal a heavy blow to the Soviet’s power of resistance. It would not altogether deprive the Russian armies of oil, for there are other oilfields in the Volga area, not to mention the reserves of fuel on the various fighting fronts. But it would virtually cut off the major source of supply and would force the Russians to depend on a very much smaller output and a poorer system of communications. The loss of Rostov, moreover, would open up the danger of an move-

ment against Kharkov, which still stands in the way of any further advance into the Donetz basin. • Fortunately, the weather in the Ukraine has broken and there is a chance that the Russians may be able to confine the enemy’s advance to the neighbourhood of Tagan-rog. But their position in the south, as on the central front, appears to be one of the gravest danger.