| Show I Behind the War News Major Maior Eliot By Major George Fielding Eliot The German inv invasion slon of Rusala Rus- Rus aia ala is 18 ended True Tru German troops still sun hold holda a fringe of at Russian soil One large Russian city Odessa is still in German hands In the north the Germans have not noty y yet been driven over the borders of or Estonia arid and Latvia but they are re very near them In the center the Germans still sUn hold a salient of Russian territory r on the front but they can n hardly stay there long In the south operations east of the Bug are are obviously of ot the up mopping variety and the corridor b between tween the Bug and the is on n the point of being completely overrun overrun by the Russian armies Thus w we may accept without Without- hesitation the pronouncement of the British writer Lord Stra- Stra when he tells the United Press that for all an practical military purposes the German invasion of Russia is over The greatest Imi military operation operation opera opera- tion which Germany has ever undertaken since Ince Germany became became became be be- came united under Bismarck has thus ended in dismal l failure That fact ov overshadows the he news from the various arlo s fro fronts ts It even overshadows the possibility possibility which grows stronger this past 48 th that t in south Russia the may be beabout beabout beabout about to s suffer stiffer fter a great military disaster For such a partial disaster will not i in itself be decisive of at the issue of this war though it may contribute to hastening its end but the ov overwhelming Vh r fa fact t of failure in Russia stands ts out ut as si a 8 grim grimand grimand and nd terrible warning to the Napoleons Napoleons Na Na- and nd Hitters of r the fu fu- fu ture The price the German people have paid in blood and suffering Buttering only to come at last to this dismal issue can hardly be bc forgotten during the lifetime of this or the next g generation of Germans It would have been bitterly remembered even had it resulted result result- ed in victory but the rising tide of youth would have found solace solace solace so so- lace in the glorious opportunity so prized by the German Gennan soul to lord It over others Now German youth fa faces es a precarious ous future Indeed with no memories memories mem mem- ories Ones on which to draw for sUpport support sup support sup sup- port save the memories of f those who died In in vain trying to achieve the impossible dreams of ot a a. maniacal ambition The very children who have been taught so tirelessly that they b belonged longed to a race of supermen supermen supermen super super- men and that In In particular their theli Sl Slav v neighbors to the east were subhuman barbarians must now live in a Eur Europe pc domInated dominated dom dom- mated to the east ast and south by those same Slavs Slave victorious powerful But the lesson has not yet come home with all aU Its bitter force The German Invasion of Russia Is over The Russian invasion invasion in in- of at Germany has not yet begun The buffer lands which lie between the two will feel the first force torce of oC the Russian onset on their soil will come the next great contest between the Russian Russian Russian Rus Rus- sian and the German armies Estonia Latvia Lithuania Poland Po Po- land Jand Rumania these Rumania these are the prospective battlefields of the immediate future In eastern Eu Eu- rope There the will win make Its last lul great reat defensive stand In the east to hold back backI I the sw swelling tide of or Russian off offensive of ot- f pow power r It is not welt well f for r us to think that the GermanS Germans Germans Ger Ger- mans are Incapable of or putting up a a. h hard rd fight they will makS mak the Russians pay heavily for victory But there can hardly be a German soldier in that re retreating retreatIng re- re treating army who is not aware that Germany is a beaten nation nation nation na na- na- na tion who is not thinking longIngly longingly longingly long long- of the day when he may go back ck to Germany an and see how howit it has fared under the b bombs with his family and his home The present successes of the tho Russians in the south are not all due to planned German Withdrawals Withdrawals With With- not even to the excellence excellence excellence excel excel- lence of Russian planning and Russian fighting they are due in part It Is quite obvious to loss of fighting spirit on the part of some of the German units units and and that is almost the first time we have had occasion to say as much So it comes to an end tinder under under un un- der the cloud of battle smoke and the steel arch of the Russian Russian Russian Rus Rus- sian shells That great Invasion which began on June 22 1941 and was to have given to Adolf I Hitler and his nazis the d minIon min min- lon Ion of ot the world It has lasted Jasted far longer than Napoleons Napoleon's attempt attempt attempt at at- tempt to conquer Russia It has hast t taken ken almost three years of bitter bitter bitter bit bit- ter fighting for the Russians to eject the invaders from their soil solI But they hey have done it its it because they preferred to die rather than b be slaves sla The German Invasion of ot Russia Russia Rus Rue sia ends The last act of the bloody and terrible drama of ot this war b begins gins The act of vengeance vengeance ven yen and of ot reckoning |
