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White I INSTALLMENT STALLMCNT SEVE SEVE\ SEVE SEVEOur \ ' " Our Leningrad trip comes comcs to n ncIJmax aclimax cIJmax with a * big dinner given in inEric InEric Eric s honor by Popkov Pophov whose title titleI titleI I suppose would be Mayor of o ( Lenin Leningrad Leninrad grad ( Anyway he is head of o ( the thelocal thelocal local Soviet and more important importantstill importantibll still he is lor for this region Stalin s sright sright right bower in the organization of ofthe ofthe the Communist Commurust Part } ) second only onlyto onlyto to Zdanov Like an American cIty cItyboss cityboss boss he run runs the to \ in n regardless regardlessof of what title he holdsPopkov holds holdsPopkov Popkov apologizes because his hiswrle hiswife wrle and family were evacuated and andcannot andcannot cannot meet us It is the first tlIDe tlIDethIS timethis thIS has happened in Russia So Sofar Sofar far these important Bolsheviks Bolshevikshave Bolshevikshave have entertained entertamed us like Moslem MoslemprinceswIthout Moslemprinces princes-wIthout princes wIthout - without mentioning mentionmg their theirhidden theirhidden hidden families famihes familiesThen famihesThen Then at Eric s request be he tells of ofthe ofthe the siege He was in command the thewhole thewhole whole tame bme bmeThe tameThe The palace dining hall and table tablev.ere tablewere v.ere vere . . what v.hat vhat you would expect some some- somethIng something - thing out of an eighteenth century centuryset centuryset set in the movies We were im impressed 1mpressed pressed and showed it and this Signboard on way to Vupurl VlIpuri Vupurlpleased pleased Popkov Popc.ov Popcov ! . who had settled settledIllto ettledinto Illto his great throne at the head of ofthe ofthe the table tableThe tableThe The dinner dlDDer now began to jog jogalong jogalong along Popkov turned loose with a acouple acouple couple of Soviet funny stories stones one oneof oneof of which was mildly dirty and the theother theother other mildly IIUldly antiSemiticIt antiSemitic'It anti-Semitic anti Semitic - - It 'It ' teems seems s&ld sld said & Popkov or rath rather rather er the Interpreter for him that the theFirst theFirst First Imperialist War of 1914-1917 1914 1917 19141917created 1914-1917created 1914 1917created - - created such a rumpus that it pene penetrated penetrated trated Heaven Heaven , , to so the Lord God sent sentSaint sentSaint Saint Peter down to find out whatwas what whatwas was the matter Next day he got gota gota a telegram URGENT NOT HAV HAVI.l.G HAVIKG I.l.G Il.G IlG . ' PROPERLY COUNTERSIGNED COUNTER COUNTERSIGNED SIGNED TRAVEL PERMIT HAVE HAVEBEEN HAVEBEEN BEEN THROWN IN JAIL BY THE THECHEKA THECHEKA CHEKA PLEASE OBTAIN RE RELEASE RELEASE LEASE EARLIEST PETER'The PETER PETERThe ' The 'The Lord God lent sent Saint Paul Pauland Pauland and next day got this telegram telegramWHILE telegramWHILE WHILE MAKING INQUIRIES FOR FORPETER FORPETER PETER ENCOUNTERED CHEKA CHEKAPOLICE CHEKAPOLICE POLICE AND NOT HAVING PROP PROPER PROPER ER IDENTITY PAPERS AM HELD HELDIN HELDIN IN JAIL FOR INVESTIGATION INVESTIGATIONIMPORTANT INVESTIGATIONIMPORTANT IMPORTANT SEND HELP AT ONCe ATONCE PAULSo PAUL PAULSo So the Lord God lent sent Saint Ja Jacob Jacob cob this thl also being a common Jew Jewish Jewlib ish name in Russia and the fol following tollowing lowing telegramPETER day opened this telegram PETER AAD D PAUL RELEASED RELEASEDWITH RELEASEDWITH WITH APOLOGIES SITUATION SITUATIONCOMPLETELY SITUATIONCOMPLETELY COMPLETELY IN HAND AWAIT AWAITYOUR AWAITYOUR YOUR FURTHER ORDERS JA JACOB JACOB COB CHIEF OF THE CHEKAPopkov CHEKA CHEKAPopkov Popkov by now . was v.as vas reasonably reasonablymellow reasonablymellow mellow leaning leanmg back in his chair chairHe chairHe He laid said he was delighted to have haveus haveu us with him He hoped we were , learnmg werelearning about Russia which may maybe be we hadn t understood Now for forinstance ( orInstance instance he laid said there were something some somethIngs thIngs * he certainly didn didnt t under underltand understand ltand about our country And the principal thing he said saidsQ.uinting saidiqulnting sQ.uinting sQuinting . at us wag was this Here we weWere wewer Were fighting a war together or oranyway oranyway anyway Rustla Russia . was wa fighting and andmaybe andmaybe maybe we w * would be icon soon But in inspite intpite spite Pressexist of that that , , we let a Fascist Press Presseritt exist in America clearly fascist faselst be because becau cause it frequently freQ.uently . criticized Rui Rus ma Rusma ia That That , , he said aid , , he certainly certainlycould could not understand why we let letRussia criticizedta criticizedJ.n Russia Russiaand and her leader be criticized J.n Jn . America AmericaNow Now of court course e this thi * was Eric si sshow s how show but I wanted to handle this thisone thl thlone i one EricHe ErieHe and ngnaled signaled as much to Erie He gave me a nod to go ahead abead . . hiscontusion I said ald I could well understand his bl blcontusion contusion clearIt elearIt and perhap perhaps * could elear busMS busibess It up because I wal wa * not a busi ! bess * man nlan but ran a newspaper newspaperAmerica America was wa a tree free country and andtherefore therefore " hld had dwhUe Andwhile a * freo free press P " " And while most American Amerieans * .upported upported aupported . both .upportedboth aupportedboth President Roosevelt and Rus Rusla Russia sia la aU all of us would fight anyone who tried whotried Because to atop top criticism of them Be- Be Be - cause a country countr , . where critlcltm criticism is ladead isdead dead criticize crlt1cize li is not tree free Thil Tb1s right to crlt1 cize I laid said li is the most important Importantfreedom importantfreeQom freeQom for tor which we are now fight fiibt In Inf fightInf fiibtIn , Then a curious thing thmg happened happenedSome happenedSome Some of Popkov s henchmen at Ule Uletablp thetable tablp were old timers-men timers men timers - men in m their theirfifties theirfifties fifties and sl sixties tles They were smil smiling smiling ing and noddmg approval One thin thinold thinold old man even had his hands po poisedto sed sedto to clap but then Ulen he looked at Popkov Popkovand Popkovand and he dldn didnt t elapAt clap elap clapAt At this point Joyce got up and andsaid andsaid said that in a tree free country we al alI always always I ways criticized our friends We had hadb hadbeen b en supporting supportmg and criticizing CrItlclzmg the theBritish theBritish British ever since this war began in in1939 1939 and we saw no reasonhy reason why \\hy hy \ \ we weshol weshouldn shol dn t do the same with RUSSlllThen Russia RUSSlll RussiaThen Then Eric got up and smooUlly smooUllysettled smoothlysettled settled everything freedom Ireedom of the thepress thepress press Russia England and even evenPopkov evenPopkov Popkov who had been a little bIt bIttaken bittaken taken aback by it all andho and , who \ho ho \ now now'I nowtald 'I I ' said that this freedom to criticize criticizewas criticizewas was a most interesting Interestmg th ng and hehoped he hehoped hoped we didn t mind mmd that he had hadhimself hadhimself himself used some of this American Americanfreedom Americanfreedom freedom to cnt crlt cize clze AmerIcaSo America AmericaSo So then he filled up his glass and andmine , mme and gr nning sa d he suspect suspect- suspected suspected - ed me of being bemg a khitre kbItre moujik mouj1k a aback aback back handed Russian slang compU compUI compUment compllment I ment . which v.hlch vhlch means sly farmer - one who knows more than he ap ap appears . I Ipears pears toSo to toSo So I said I was sure be he was a akhitre I kbItre proletarian and after that thatwe thatwe we got along very well We all liked likedPopkov ' Pophov He meets you head on He HeI Heis Heis I is tough but this is a tough country countryand ' and only tough men can ride country'I this thisbroncho thisbroncho 'I I broncho Talkers don dont t last Keren Kerensky Kerenky sky ( and Trotsky weren t qUIck qUIckenough quickenough enough on the draw These combi combination combination nation city manager Little Caesar Caesartypes Caesartypes types are the only ones who can canhandle canhandle handle It t . . We ttart start for the Finnish FIDIlish front and andthe andthe the reporters against all experi experience expertence ence are hoping hopmg All previous front fronttrips fronttrips trips have gone no further than the theheadquarters theheadquarters headquarters of a general But Eric EricJohnston EricJohnston Johnston even in America was waspromised waspromised promised a look at the fighting fightmg fightingWe fightmgWe We drive over one of Russia s few fewpaved fewpaved paved hIghways-from hIghways from highways - from Len ngrad to toVJ1puri toVilpuri VJ1puri until 1940 Finland s second secondlargest secondlargest largest city Russia took it by the thetreaty thetreaty treaty of that yearIn year yearIn In 1941 the Firms Finns again reoccupied reoccu 'pied pied ' pied it continued eontmued to their old fron frontier trontier tier and then dug in m a few kilometers kilometersbeyond kilometersbeyond beyond . . In these trenches they theystayed theystayed stayed during durmg 1942 1943 and half of 1944 | They were there unt 1 a few weeks weeksago weeksago ago when the Russian drive easily easilycrashed easilycrashed crashed through their first carefully carefullyprepared carefullyprepared prepared defense line and then theirsecond their theirecond econd second We are told that they have havenow havenow now been pushed back to their third thirdjust thirdjust just outside ViipurL VllpurL VllpurL'I ViipurLThe ' The Russ ans profited greatly in inexperIence Inexperience 'I I experIence by that little war They Theywere Theywere were badly mauled in the first firstI firstmonths firstmonths I months of fighting because bemg bemgoverly beingoverly overly Impressed by the success of ofGerman ofGerman German tank tact cs In flat fiat tree tree- treeless treeless - less Poland they had tried to copy copythem copythem them in Finland a rolling healy healyforested heavilyforested . ! forested country studded with lakes lakesand lakesand and swamps swampsAfter 1 After early setbacks they the1 correct correct- corrected corrected - I aUI ed their errors They abandoned aU aUopen allopen open tactics brought up their big bigguns 1 1guns guns gunshlch ( which \\hlch hlch \ are excellent and which whichthey whichthey they possess in great numbers numbersbanked ) Ibanked banked them hub to hub in front of ofthe ofthe I the Mannerheim line and blew It to tobits tobits bits after which the Finnish fnfan fnfanI intantry I try cOl could d offer only token OPpositIon oppositionto to the Red Army massesOn masses massesOn On June 22 1941 Hitler attacked attackedRussia attackedRussia Russia As his armies crossed the theborder theborder border he spoke over the radio Sev Several Several eral paragraphs were devoted to topraise topraise praise of Finland a s 1940 resistance resistanceto to Russ a Germany was ready to todefend todefend defend the Integrity of little Fin Finland Finland toI I land he said And even now Ger German i iman man troops were on Finnish toil soil . . - - - - hadbeen echnlcaUy TeChnically this was true It had been explained to the Finns who whohad whohad had no foreknowledge of the attack attackon attackon on Russia that these German divi divislons divlElons slons were only en route to Narvik . . But the Russians jumped to the theconclusion theconclusion conclusion ( as Hitler Intended they theyshould theyshould should ) that Finland was already in inthe inthe the war The Finnish Fmnish version of ofevents ofevents Immediatelybegan events li is the Russians immediately began bombing Finnish cities that thatthe thatthe the Finni Finns sent unanswered : notes of ofprotest ofprotest protest Historians will iirttio M . point At present we only know knowI knowthat knowthat that the Finnish declaration of I war waron waron on the Soviets came tour four days after afterHitler afterHitler obi Hitler i s attack Indicating indlcatlng the ob obviou i , vious * reluctance of many Finns Fmns FinnsIt It was a beautiful June day and andthe andthe the countryside was wa vividly green greenThe The greenThe land is rolling with patches of ofwoodland ofwoodland woodland and not many houses We Weshare Weshare share the road with truckload truckloads * of ofRed ofRed Red Army boys rolling toward the thefront thefront front None of them seemed to hasteel ha\ ha hae hateel \ e steel teel helmets also rare In MoscowThen Moscow MoscowThen Then we pass pas a curlou curioU4 * sight-to sight to sighttoour light - toour our Weitern Western eyes-the eyes the eyes - the wounded woundedcoming woundedcoming coming back from the front-head front head front - * . beadla in tlingsbut slingsbut bloody bandages arms arm * in slings but jolting along in horse-drawn horse drawn horsedrawncarts horse-drawncarts horse drawncarts - - carts They are the kind we oIten oItenwhisk oftenwhitk whisk back across the Atlantic AUantlc byplane by byplane byplaneMaybe plane planeMaybe Maybe it was wa not typical From Fromthree three it1 itis creaking wooden cartload cartloada * it is not iafe sate to acsume assume that human humansuffering humanluffering suffering is 1 so cheap In Russia Rus l that thatyou thatyou you truckbut take a man to battia battle by truck but , , once his fightinguscfulness fighting utctulnes uscfulness * isgone is isgone gone his hi * time li is not valuable and anda a Onlythere horse cart li is fast ta t enough Only there were the trucks and the cllrta cllrtaon carton * on the th only front I law saw We mount the crest of a hill am anc.below ancbelow . below us in the valley and on the thehIll thehill hIll opposite we see the outworks of ofthe othe { the Finnish mrush defense line behind behindwhich behindwhich which they camped from the fall of of1941 1941 unt 1 June 12 1944-about 1944 about 1944 - about a aweek aweek week ago The valley is thick with withbarbed withbarbed barbed wire WITe spun like l1ke spider \ v.eb veb . eb on ona ona a stubbly forest of waist h gh posts postsThe postsThe The green hill beyond is scarred scarredWith scarredwith With zigzag trenches A number of ofRussian ofRussian Russian tanks pass b g ones and andgood andgood good looking lookmg on their way up to the thefront thefront thefrontBehind front frontBehind Behind us comes a dull roar and andwe andwe we look up to see a formation of ofStormovlks ofStormoviks Stormovlks on their way toward the theVllpuri theVilpuri Vllpuri frontFinally front frontFinally Finally at about noon we arrive arriveat arriveat at the little village of Tenjokl Tenjoh . ! which whichI I had visited almost five years be before before fore when v.hen vhen . it was a front-line front line front-lme lme - - townon town townon on the other side of the Russo FlIlIl FlIlIlIsh Finnish Ish lines linesKinlov linesI I Kinlov rllov leaves us to visit the lo- lo local lo local - cal commander who will decide how howmuch howmuch much farther and by what road we wemay wemay may go to the frontA front frontA A . quarter Q.uarter of an hour later he hecomes hecomes comes back and imperturbably mo mobons motions bons us to follow We drive to the theoutskirts theoutskirts outskirts of TerlJoklK1rllov Terljoki TerlJokl TerljokiKmlov Kmlov K1rllov strolls over But the front frontwe , , we ask askThe The commander has tald said today todaywe todaywe we can go no farther There would wouldbe wouldbe be danger dangerWe We argue plead expostulate We Weexpress Weexpress express dismay chagrin chagrm consterna consternation consternatlon tion We point out that we have havebeen havebeen been nowhere near the front . . The commander has said no fur |