RED ARMY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 July 1941, Page 6

RED ARMY

RELIANCE ON MANPOWER

AND SPACE

BROAD DEFENCE SYSTEM.

SOVIET "MAGINOT" LINE.

iThis article is condensed from two articles published in the "New Statesman and Nation" last year. The author is said to have lived in Russia for a number of years). When the train steams slowly past the frontier posts which used to divide Poland from the Soviet Union, the first thing the traveller notices on Russian territory is a line of baibedwire entanglements stretching away on both sides of the railway into the empty distance as far ns the eye can see. But this line of barbed wire stretches farther than that. It stretches from the Baltic to the Black Sea. interrupted only half a dozen times to allow trains to pass. Behind this barbed wire, occupying an average of 30 miles, defences run right across the broadest part of Europe. It is not only the broadest part of Europe —it is also the emptiest and loneliest. In this broad belt of territory running for practically all its length through a vast, flat, bare plain, there is not a village, not a farm house, not a living soul to be seen. ■

Although the fortifications on the western frontier were begun much later than those in the Far East, they are far more elaborate. In the period between the Treaty of Rapallo and Hitler’s seizure of power, much of Germany's military knowledge and experience was at the disposal of the Russians; in the period since Hitler, much of France’s. So the Soviet “Maginot Line,” stretching literally without a break for 800 miles from the Baltic Sea to the river Dniester, can be regarded as the most modern and complete defensive system in the world. Outwardly there is nothing to be seen but occasional block-houses, which serve merely as quarters for the frontier guards in peace time, and the high watch-towers with searchlights and signalling apparatus which are spaced at intervals of a few hundred yards the whole length of the frontier. But it is known that "no-man’s-land.” between the barbed-wire and the defensive works themselves, is one great minefield. The “Maginot Line” itself is not just one line of subterranean fortifications, but consists of several, one behind the other. Between and behind these lines, there are large numbers of subterranean aeroplane hangars with enormous reserves of petrol stored in tanks, buried deep underground. FIVE ARMIES. The defence of the Soviet Union is divided into two halves: European Russia and ■ eastern Siberia. Both halves are completely independent of each other. Behind the “Maginot Line" in the west there are four armies, comprising 12 to 15 army corps which can immediately be increased to 18 if war is threatened. Although these armies are distributed amongst various military commands, in reality they are in a permanent slate of mobilisation, ready to march at a moment's notice. A fifth army is ready in reserve. Officially, it is called the Moscow Command and is concentrated behind the centre of' the future European front. Still another reserve is at hand in the form of a special cavalryarmy, mixed with mechanised units, and situated in the Ukraine and wesl-

cm Caucasian steppes. This cavalry-army is unique in its size and organisation. Nothing on the same scale can be found among the armed forces of any other Great Power. Besides the cavalry proper, it is furnished with an enormous quantity of tanks of all types and also —a Russian specialty —with double and treblespanned machine-gun teams. ' AIR FORCE. The greatest number of Soviet aeroplanes ever seen at one time by foreigners was at the First of May celebrations in 1936. Foreign visitors and journalists were present on that day in seven European-Russian garrisons. The parades took place in all seven garrisons at the same time. And during these parades a total of well over 4000 aeroplanes flew over the

seven parade grounds simultaneously. The task of making the people of the Soviet Union air-minded is in the efficient hands of the Ossaviachim, the organisation for encouraging voluntary pre-military training. It devotes very special efforts to building up reserves of pilots and technical personnel. Thousands of young men and women are taught at this school how to make parachute descents, as the first step in their training. In no country of the world is so much importance attached to parachute jumping. About 2,000.000 young men have already been hardened and made “air-worthy.” About a quarter of them are selected for further instruction and first receive a thorough training in gliding. The Soviet Union maintains a very large number’ of regular air-lines. All these services give regular flying practice to thousands of reserve pilots, ostensibly civilians, but living in barracks in the flying fields. They could be transferred to military service immediately, on declaration of war. And throughout the Soviet Union, apart from the regular flying fields, there are hundreds of secret aerodromes hidden in the midst of thick forests and in little valleys in the middle of the vast open plains.

’ BOMBING STRATEGY. The enormous distances in the SoI viet Union are its best protection against air attack. Russia is the country which has least to fear from aerial bombardment. What is there for the enemy to bomb? Forests, marshes, plains? A few of the hundreds of thousands of villages. There.are only two towns of any importance near the European frontier: Minsk and Kiev. And even if these two towns were laid in ashes, what effect would that have on the military operations? None. In any case it would be easy to evacuate these towns in time of war. Even heavy bombardments of towns near the frontier would have no effect on the morale of the population in the rest of Russia, because they would know nothing or very little of them. An air attack on Moscow, the only city where bombing would produce a bad effect on the morale of the population, hardly seems possible. For 16 to 18 hours arc necessary for the flight from the ■ nearest frontier and back. Only one large city in European Russia would be an easy target if hostile air-craft-carriers could operate in the Baltic Sea, or if the Baltic countries were on the side of the enemy. That is Leningrad. But that has been foreseen.

Just as the Soviet Union offers, a difficult object to enemy bombing aeroplanes, so it is in an extremely favourable position for aerial attack upon other countries. The whole of East Prussia lies comfortably within the range of the Russian air forces. And with the tendency of the Red Army leaders to risk huge quantities of men and material, one can well reckon with more distant raids than these. The Soviet Union’s tremendous aerial army has been created to “demoralise, ■’ not so much soldiers, as the civil population of the enemy. THE NAVY. ‘

Less is known about the Red Navy than about any other branch of the Soviet armed forces. The construction programme is wrapped in the greatest secrecy. We know that the Soviet Navy consists of three fleets, the Baltic, the Black Sea, and the Pacific Ocean fleet, together with the three flotillas of the Caspian, White, and Polar Seas. In the navy are also included the numerous river flotillas, a large proportion of which consists of quite new monitors, constructed as a result of the experience gained during the civil war. Whereas before the war Russia possessed no river flotillas, the Soviet Union has strong fleets on the Dnieper, Dniester, and Volga rivers in European Russia, and the Amur and Sungali rivers in Asia. This much is known, that for many years the Soviet Union has gradually been increasing the units of its navy. The naval dockyards in Leningrad and Nikolayov on the Black Sea have been greatly enlarged. For smaller ships, and particularly for submarines, the naval arsenals have been transferred to the interior. There are many such shipbuilding yards for submarines on the Volga, on certain lakes and particularly on Lake Baikal. Absolute secrecy is ensured regarding the number of Soviet submarines; they are built, dismantled into their component parts, and finally transported to their bases for