HITLER’S MISTAKE

Evening Star, Issue 24331, 21 October 1942, Page 3

HITLER’S MISTAKE

THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN DAYS OF MAJOR OPERATIONS NUMBERED (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, October 19. “ For the Russian campaign of 1942,” ‘ The Times ’ states, “ the days of major operations are numbered. To find a line that can be held without ruinous cost through tho winter has become the urgent problem of the German High Command. It does not appear that such a line has yet been reached on the southern part of the front, and it seems necessary, from tho German viewpoint, not merely to secure Stalingrad, but also a wide front on the Volga instead of a wedge thrust out towards the right bank. “ The battle now being waged for the factory area in the northern part of the city is indeed a battle for the Lower Volga, rather than Stalingrad. Even, however, if Stalingrad were yet to fall before .the winter, it is now too late for the Germans to hope for the exploitation of such success as would justify the price that has been paid. “An enormous miscalculation has been made. What Hitler miscalculated is not the march of the seasons or the power of the Wehrmacht, but the courage, tenacity, and skill in war of the armies and the people of Soviet Russia. Outside the city to the north and south the Russian forces still hack desperately at the Germans’ flanks, making small progress, but keeping tho enemy under constant strain. In his present position the enemy would never be free from these menaces; therefore it seems clear that ho must go on trying to improve it before he establishes a line he can hold.

“In the meantime,” ‘The Times’ points out, “ Soviet military policy must inevitably be cramped for a long time by the deprivation of material resources the German advance has entailed, ' and it is probably too much to hope that when the Germans go over to the defensive the Russians will be capable of any immediate counterattack under the difficult conditions of their winter climate. They will go forward in due time, but to make their ultimate attack irresistible it must be concerted with a larger plan for the simultaneous closing-in of all avengers upon Germany. “ In what should bo the last phase of the general Allied'defensive, Russia has borne the brunt and discharged her task nobly. The first move in a general counter-offensive is the responsibility of her Allies.”