Wairarapa Times-Age TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1943. AN OFFENSIVE THAT EXPANDS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 October 1943, Page 2

Wairarapa Times-Age TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1943. AN OFFENSIVE THAT EXPANDS

WRITING only a little over six weeks ago, at the encl of August, an able and well-informed American war correspondent summed up the position then reached on the Eastern front as one in which all serious danger- to the Red armies and to the life of Russia itself had been ended, but in which the Germans still'had fair prospects of being able to arrest the Russian offensive and to take their stand lor the winter on a, strong defensive line, with excellent railway communications in rear.

Taking full account of the remarkable results achieved by the Soviet forces in their summer offensive from its opening date on July 12 to the end of August, the writer in question doubted whether the tremendous effort which had produced these results could be kept up much longer and thought it likely that at or about Ihe period of the autumn rains the Germans would be able to stage a counter-offensive which would give them at least a. temporary respite. At the 1 time when it was made, this estimate seemed reasonable, but if is now apparent to all beholders that it did far less than justice to the military resources and strategic planning of the Soviet Union, to the skill with which its armies are being directed and to the valour and fighting power of these armies.

Since the American writer made his estimate, Smolensk, Bryansk and other great hedgehog bastions of the German defensive line in Russia have fallen, the line itself has been shattered beyond repair and the railway system on which it was based has either been recovered by the Russians or has been so penetrated, as in the capture of Nevel, that it is now 01. little use to the invaders.

The success of the Russian offensive has exceeded any expectation that could reasonably have been lormcd at a compaiatively recent date —a state of affairs as gratifying to the Soviet Union and its Allies as it must be disheartening and demoralis- ' ing to the enemy. Today, with the Dnieper line irrevocably broken, the Germans have been driven out of the Kuban apparently extricating only broken remnants of the forces which held that bridgehead—and are heavily menaced in their occupation of the Crimea. The Russian drive beyond Nevel towards the Latvian frontier gives point to reports that the enemy forces have begun a withdrawal from the Baltic, States. Prospects of a German counterstroke have receded. Present indications are that they are expending their available strength in ineffective local counter-attacks against the expanding Russian bridgeheads west of the Dnieper and at other points and that it is altogether unlikely that they will be able to stabilise their broken and disorganised front.

Even the Nazi commentators apparently have now little to say about a retreat according to plan. It is fairly obvious that the German armies are falling back simply because they are unable to withstand the relentless and expanding Russian onset. Winter is at hand, but the Germans have fared badly in all winter fighting in Russia and there is every promise that during the winter about to open the Soviet forces will be better equipped and organised than they have been hitherto to build with maximum effect on what they have accomplished during their victorious summer offensive.

The course of events in Russia obviously has its vital bearing on the war policy of the Western Allies and particularly upon the question of an invasion of Europe from Britain which more or less authoritative spokesmen and organs of opinion in the Soviet Union have at times declared to be overdue. Presumably, however, nothing more has ever been in dispute than the time at which this blow should be struck. It seems likely, too, that a much better understanding exists on this subject and others between the Soviet Government and the Western Allies than some unofficial reports and speculation would suggest. For instance, at the time of the Quebec conference, a “Christian Science Monitor’’ correspondent, Air Roscoe Drummond, was informed by “a spokesman on the highest level” that the strategic decisions and the impending actions following from the conference were fully known to Russia and were pleasing to Russia. “Nothing is happening here,” the spokesman said, “with which Russia will not be satisfied.” Air Churchill has made it clear that the Allies will choose lheir time, in accordance with the best military advice, at which to launch an invasion of Europe from Britain, The magnificent success of the Russian offensive evidently must tend, together with the developing power and effect of the Allied air offensive and other factors, to bring that time nearer.