RED ARMY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 June 1943, Page 3

RED ARMY

SOON TO MAKE DECISIVE EFFORT ACCORDING TO MOSCOW CORRESPONDENT. TRIBUTE TO SOVIET STRATEGY. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) NEW YORK, June 5. “The Red Army is preparing for what, it is generally believed, will be the last campaign in the eastern war,” says the “New York Times” correspondent, Carl Sulzberger, in a dispatch from Moscow. “The final decision will be forced.*

‘‘The Soviet command, by drawing on the enormous resources of manpower, stepping up production and utilising the mounting Allied material, has been able to remodel the Red Army since 1941 and render it more modern, more efficient, and better equipped. “The resilience which permitted this reorganisation and improvement is a tribute to the wise Soviet strategy, which is described as “active defence,’’ meaning, according to the prominent Russian strategist, Professor Minz, fighting for every inch of territory and holding on to every village and town as long as possible to gain time and bleeding the enemy as much as possible.

“The world was aware that this strategy was satisfactorily carried out in the first summer of the eastern warfare, but it is less aware of the extent of the reorganisation and improvement in efficiency of the Red Army and its offensive and defensive tactics. The outstanding changes since the start, of the.war include a complete alteration of the High Command, generally with the submergence of old-timers and the emergence of new and younger figures such as General Zhukov. However, the most important factor in the improvement is the emergence of a new type of officer as an individually powerful figure in each unit who can and does effect quick decisions, and is not afraid to take responsibility.” The Moscow correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain says that despite the expected German offensive the Soviet Government took daring steps to increase the output of planes and introduced the American assembly-line technique. The reorganisation of all factories is nearly completed, and the production has already been stepped up. The Russians previously produced warplanes on the serial basis, which turned out planes of good quality but more slowly than the American mass production methods which have just been adopted.