Caucasian Front

Southland Times, Issue 24886, 28 October 1942, Page 4

Caucasian Front

PUBLIC attention has been so closely focused on Stalingrad during the weeks and months of heroic resistance that it has been easy to overlook the importance of the fighting in the Caucasus area. It is true, of course, that Stalingrad remains the key to the military situation in Russia. If the city survives the last waves of attack the Germans will be unable to extend their southern front to Astrakhan. Their eastern flank will remain open to counter-attacks, and General von List’s army in the Caucasian foothills will be operating at the end of vulnerable communications. The scale and weight of the advance must depend largely on the course of operations on the Volga. It would be madness, even if it were physically possible, to launch a full offensive until the whole southern front is stabilized. At the moment the Germans appear to be making little headway. Their advance is following two routes —one leading to Makhach Kala, railway junction on the Caspian Sea, and the other leading through the wooded foothills south-east of the Black Sea port of Novorossisk. This means that the enemy is trying to force an entry at both ends of the Caucasian range. His final objective is the great oil centre of Baku. The easiest route to Baku is the eastward road through Grozny to the Caspian, and southwards down the coast. But “easiest” is a comparative term in any description of the Caucasus. Almost exactly halfway between Makhach Kala and Baku is the Derbent Gateway, named the “gate of gates” by the Scythians who poured this way in a much earlier invasion. Here the mountains, piled massively against the skyline, end abruptly at a coastal belt about six miles wide. Few better places could be imagined for a stand against invading forces. There is a possible central route. Southwest of Grozny is Ordjonikidje, an industrial town which is also the terminus of the only two roads that cross the mountains near the centre of the range. Both highways twist and turn at altitudes of 10,000 feet, descending into narrow and treacherous gorges, and providing perfect defence positions. But Red Star, commenting on the defences of the Caucasus, recently pointed out that “no natural obstacle can prevent enemy advances unless it is backed by fire power and men” —a truth already demonstrated in the narrow passes of Norway and Greece. The Germans have not yet reached the hardest stage of their advance. In their stubborn resistance the Russians have shown that they have troops and guns in sufficient numbers to meet the invasion if it remains on its present restricted scale. Behind them are the mountains. The passes may already be dark with the storms of autumn. And further south, in Iraq and Iran, are the growing armies of the United Nations. The Germans have gone far—but not far enough to give them the gateway they needed before the coming of winter.