Wairarapa Times-Age SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1943. A “NECESSARY DELAY” DENIED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 October 1943, Page 2

Wairarapa Times-Age SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1943. A “NECESSARY DELAY” DENIED

WHILE it was being reported that the Russian offensive had V ’ been halted by autumn rains and mud, and while General Dietmar was declaring, over the Berlin radio, that: In the east as well as in the south we have gained the necessary delay which is essential . . . lor us to complete our mobilisation not only at the front but also at home,” the lied Army was striking new and shattering blows which have further seriously weakened the position of the German armies on the front from the Baltic to the Sea of Azov. The principal results meantime of the latest Russian onslaught are the capture of the town of Novel, astride the main railway linking the German northern, and central armies, the establishment and enlargement of three bridgeheads on the western side of the Dnieper and the expulsion of the Germans from all or nearly all of what was left of their foothokUn the Kuban territory, opposite the Crimea. To wliat extent Russian operations on some parts of the front will be hampered by weather and by the necessity of reorganising railway communications, by alteration of gauge and in other ways, is not known. Obviously, however, the alleged gain of “necessary delay” on which the German official military commentator laid so much emphasis was a myth and that myth has now been exploded. All the claims the Germans have made of late regarding retirement to a shorter and more secure line are at variance w it II the facts. At the moment they are holding a line that is as long as ever and extremely insecure. It is particularly insecure around the great bend of the Dnieper and in areas to the south, including the Crimea. It has been observed justly that, with winter impending, the Germans cannot hold their southern front in strength without risking disasters of the Stalingrad type. Dangerous possibilities, from the enemy standpoint, are raised also by the achievement of the Russians in driving a deep salient into the heavily fortified defences of the Novel region, far to the west of Moscow and on the approaches to the Latvian frontier. _ ! The factor of weather in itself offers the Germans little prospect of relief. The autumn rains in Russia, though heavy in some areas, are usually of short duration. In places they last normally only for a couple of weeks. It was pointed out recently by one commentator that: “It was in late September of 1941 that the Germans captured Kiev' and Poltava, and the fight for the Ukraine continued at its height throughout October of that year. In the following year the) battle lor Stalingrad did not begin in earnest until August 18, and the Caucasus fighting went on long after that.” Looking a little further ahead, the Russians from the outset have had the upper hand in successive winter campaigns fought on the Eastern front and there arc no grounds for expecting this state of affairs to be reversed. The outlook could, hardly be darker than it is for the Germans on the Eastern front. They could not improve their position otherwise than by a successful counter-offensive on a great scale. Since they have been overwhelmingly defeated and driven out of defensive zones they had hoped to make impregnable, and have lost also a great part of the principal railways of western Russia, it may be supposed that they are no longer in a position to attempt a counter-offen-sive of the magnitude demanded.