South Yorkshire Times – Saturday 08 January 1944
Russian Recoil
It is nearly two and a half years since the German armies crossed the old Soviet- Polish frontier in an easterly direction. That was near the end of June, 1941, scarcely a week after they had launched their attack against Russia.
Now the Germans are crossing the frontier once more, this time in the opposite direction and not in quite such good order. True, they have done better than the Grand Army. If it is any consolation to Hitler, he can claim to have maintained himself on Russian soil longer than Napoleon did. But in the end the result promises to be the same. A beaten army rolls steadily backwards towards its own territory, leaving behind in ghastly toll for the adventure the flower of its manhood and a haul of booty so colossal that no final count of it is yet possible. Hitler’s retreat has not yet become a rout, but the price of continued coherent resistance is a mortal one.
The field commanders of the Red Army have shown themselves to be past masters in the execution of vast enveloping movements on the Stalingrad pattern. The thrusting Russian spearheads keep probing into the German lines only to curve like deadly talons once they have established an effective penetration. These tactics leave the Nazis the alternatives of staying and courting annihilation, or taking themselves off with the best speed they can make, as they are ignominiously squeezed out of the country which they long ago claimed to have mastered.
The granite resolution of Marshal Stalin is well matched by the tireless devotion of the Russian soldiery. In defence of Russian soil this combination has proved unshakeable. The Russians, it is said, fight best when they are fighting within and for their own country. They could not well have fought better than in the last two years. To those who question whether the same zest will be discernible once the Germans have been completely cleared out of Russia, the obvious answer is that the Red Army, having passed triumphant through the fiery furnace of invasion, has acquired a temper which burnishes not only its patriotism but also its new offensive spirit. There are still many thousands of square miles of Soviet territory to clear of the invader, but the great hunt promises to move faster as the year progresses. The reeling German hosts on the Eastern front are already glancing over their shoulders, as well they may when even their High Command is beginning to betray nervousness about the coming blow from the West. The latter by causing stories to be put out that the onslaught may be expected within a matter of weeks (some versions even say days) has hardly contributed to the peace of mind of its harassed divisions in the East.
In good time the blow will fall and we shall then see that our Russian Allies will not be slow to exploit a situation which they have dreamed of all through the sacrificial months which have hitherto been their lot. The prospect should prove chastening throughout the Reich. The blonde beast is all but brought to bay.