vol. III . No. 8 Z7 Jan. 1945

RESTRICTED ETO U.S. ARMY after.casualties were three, caused by 'mines .the town was captured." * * * "Troops must learn . to report and ask for counterfires against observed enemy weapons, even though not directed at them. The Germans often cross the fires of their artillery, mortars, machine guns and direct fire weapons. Men must realize that good teamwork in reporting them will assist the "When we emplace machine guns on entire advance ." the ground floors of buildings to deliver * * * * grazing fire, we put them well back in the "If we approached a village and saw the room to hide the flash and muzzle blast, citizens proceeding with normal daily row- and place chickenwire over the ground t, we felt sure the enemy was not floor windows to stop grenades ." defending. If the people were indoors and * * * * quiet, it was a sure indication the enemy `With our mortars we use 66mm high was prepared to defend ." explosive and illuminating shells alternately. * * * * The Jerries face in position when the illuminating shells arc fired and heavy "When our supporting artillery fire lifted, casualties can sometime be inflicted with bazookas were used to give the impression the following round of HE." of continued artillery fire. This enabled * * * the infantry to move else to the enemy "We operate a tire, repair section to our positions without receiving small arms fire. " regimental motor park which repairs tires * * * * and tubes that cannot be repaired by :drivers. three days the section repaired it i tubes. "A wire reel attached to a cub airplane was The section is also responsible for evacuating used in Italy to lay wire quickly owe difficult tires and tubes which it cannot repair to terrain. On one occasion wire was laid over the war for repair or salvage . " a mountain to a point three miles away in * * * * a very few minutes, a job that would have "When we took Pattern, fire support came taken several hours by wire track. from one direction while the maneuvering reel was designed, built , and attached to'the force came from another. The Germans` plane by the chief mechanic of the group's air section . " were completely surprised . Several of * * * * their self-propelled guns were sited to meet an attack from the expected 'direction and "Luminous `watches or compasses are three of them were .caught to flank . When usedof - for communication by members the Germans attempted -to shift to meet the night patrols . The ,watch or compass is maneuvering force, an artillery battalion strapped to the inside of the hand . and caught them with `time on target' fat and prearranged signals given by opening and Inflicted heavy losses. The only American closing the hand."

WHEN YOU'VE­FINISHED , READING THIS COPY ­of "ARMY TALKS" Pass It On ARMY TALKS "The purpose of the program . is to give the soldier psychological preparation for combat, and a better realization of the import of every phase of his military training . Emphasis will be placed on combat orientation. The mental and physical conditioning of the enemy, and a proper evaluation of the enemy ' s weapons and fighting qualities will be stressed . A better understanding of the background of the war, and the soldier's responsibilities in the post-war world will also be developed ." BY COMMAND OF GENERAL EISENHOWER. (Extract from letter ETO . I August 1944, AG 35212 OpSS, Subject : Combat Orientation Program). USSR HOW TO BLUNT A BLITZKRIEG

T DAWN on 22 June 1941 more ter of 1941, the blitz had stumbled, than 200 Axis divisions — some fallen, and frozen . The Red Army A two million men — plunged launched smashing counterattacks. into a front z,000 miles broad . . .the Throughout that severe winter, they European boundary of the Union were on the offensive against the of Soviet Socialist Republics. Wehrmacht. The attack was concentrated on In the early summer of 1942, the three main objectives : Leningrad, Germans regained the initiative and Moscow, and Kiev. In the first concentrated their strength against 3o days German forces rolled to Stalingrad — a thousand miles deep within 125 miles of Leningrad. in the USSR . If Hitler could cut The Finns, supported by the Ger­ through here, he would sever the mans, began a drive from the north north from the south and win to encircle the city. In the center, Caucasus oil to fuel and lubricate the Nazis knifed 430 miles into his war machine. Soviet territory toward Moscow. By late August the German jugger­ In the south they swept into the naut possessed 980,000 square miles Ukraine, capturing Kiev on the way. of Soviet territory ; its guns and This was blitzkrieg in top form. bombers had shattered Stalingrad. German victory in the east seemed as With victory only a step away, sure as the victory in the west. German troops entered Stalingrad Many military experts gave the USSR on 16 September. from three weeks to three months. But again the Wehrmacht had Yet six months later, in the win­ not reckoned with Red Army cour­ age. Soviet Armies lashed furious­ ly in a spectacular counterattack. Brilliantly-executed encircling moves swear to defend her of the Red Army made the besiegers the besieged. Stalingrad still stood. with honor. .. In this great German defeat, Hitler lost 22 divisions, 25 generals, and 330,000 prisoners. Never again were they able to develop a sustained offensive . They tried with a move toward Moscow in July 1943 but were repelled . In August, the whole front began to move westward. By 7 November of the next year, Marshal Stalin was able to announce that the Red Army had "cleared our land of the enemy". One must go back before the war to see what made this victory­ posts at that time, were critical of possible.­ the Chamberlain government for not achieving a military alliance with the USSR. Mr Churchill spoke AR NERVES gave peaceful­ in the House of Commons on 19 May nations the jitters in 1938 1 939 : "I have been quite unable to W and 1939 as Hitler gobbled understand what is the objection to Memel and part of Czechoslovakia.­ making the agreement with Russia . . . Faced with the possibility of still and making it in the broad and further Nazi aggression, Prime Min- simple form proposed by the Russian ister Chamberlain announced to the Soviet Government." House of Commons on 31 March 1939 that "in the event of any The Nub of the Question action which clearly threatened Polish Late in August, Marshal Voro­ independence,. and which the Polish shilov declared in an interview in . Government accordingly considered IIvestia : "During the staff conversa­ it vital to resist with their national tions with Britain and France, the forces, his Majesty's Government Soviet delegation had argued that would feel themselves bound at once to be able to give effective aid to to lend the Polish Government all troop them (against Germany) Soviet support in their power." would have to enter Polish territory .. Similar guarantees were given to The Anglo-French Mission did not Greece, Rumania and Turkey. agree with this thesis, and the France stood with Great Britain in Polish Government had declared these maneuvers to build a bloc of that they would not accept military "Stop Hitler" nations. help from the USSR . That made Meanwhile the British and French military cooperation impossible ." governments negotiated to bring the Britain and France, having guar- Soviet Union into the new bloc. anteed Poland's independence, appar- Many British leaders, among them ently believed it inconsistent with Winston Churchill and Anthony their policy to agree to Soviet Eden, who did not hold cabinet troops marching into Poland. The

2 ARMY TALKS

with courage, with skill, with-dignity and sparing neither my blood nor my life. . ." — SOVIET SOLDIER'S OATH

military alliance unfortunately was USSR. During 1940-41 he prevailed not achieved. upon Hungary, •Rumania, and Bul­ Late in August 1939, the big story garia to join the Axis alliance, and broke the Soviet Union and Ger­ German Armies were established many had signed a Non-Aggression within those nations on Russia's Treaty. News services cabled over southern flank. a million words in one week from Hitler was in position to strike at Europe to America. Communica­ one of his primary objectives as set tions services_ were so jammed that down in Mein Kampf : - "When we messages were at times ten hours are talking of more ground room in late in arriving. Europe, we can in the first place The terms : were simple. In only think of Russia and the border essence, Germany and the Soviet states dependent on her." Union would "refrain from every act of force, every aggressive action Soviet Not Asleep at the Switch and every attack against one another " and that in case of disagreement, they Meanwhile, the Soviets were not would settle differences by "friendly daydreaming. 'We lack information exchange of opinions." regarding critical matters related, to the Soviet's international actions How Hitler Honored the Pact prior to the German attack on 22 June 1941," the War Department Thus insured against war with the states in an outline of the Campaigns Soviet Union, Hitler was free to in the USSR . "But it is reasonably attack in the west. well established that she may have But he continued to establish seen a German attack coming and himself in an advantageous military have made the Nonaggression Pact position in the east by taking the with Germany to gain time for rest of Czechoslovakia and a big industrial and military preparation; slice of Poland in 1939 . His con­ that, basing her action on the same quest of Norway in 1940 gave him probability, she attacked Finland to bases , useful for possible operations improve her own military frontier in against the northern parts of the the region of Leningrad, and later 27 January, 1945 3 ­

forcibly extended her control over former Russian .territory in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Rumania, and Po­ land. With the exception of Poland and Rumania all these states had been closely associated with Germany in the past." The USSR did improve her military position by four moves made before the German attack : First: following the Nazi invasion of Poland, the Soviets occupied Eastern Poland giving among other reasons, the military grounds that the Polish state had become "a fertile field for any accidental and unexpected contingency that may create a menace to the Soviet Union ." Most of the territory taken had been part of the Russian empire before 1917. By occupying it, the Soviets acquired 77,705 square miles to cushion to some extent the border territory in the north about German attack when it came. 6o miles from the Murmansk railroad. Second : Finland, which was used The Soviet forces evacuated Petsamo, by the Nazis as one base for opera­ leaving the valuable nickel mines of tions against the USSR had also been that area in Finnish territory. The a part of the old Russian Empire. text of the treaty signed 12 March The Finns declared their indepen­ 1940 states that "the safety of their dence in 1917 and the Russo-Finnish cities particularly Leningrad, Mur­ border was located some 20 miles — mansk and the Murmansk rail­ within artillery range — from Russia's road . . ." was assured the Soviets. important manufacturing center and The territory gained by the treaty second largest city, Leningrad. provided a buffer area where the Red Army held out against Finnish USSR Tries Negotiation First and German troops for 36 days after the Nazi attack in 1941 . Lenin­ The Soviets negotiated with the grad, although besieged until 24 Jan Finns from 11 Oct until 30 Nov 1 944, never fell. 1939 to change that boundary line. Third : In June 1940 the Soviet The negotiations failed and war Government occupied the Baltic resulted. Finland was defeated after States, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithua­ three and one-half months of bitter nia. They too had been a part of fighting. The peace settlement gave the Russian Empire before 1917. the Soviets a 3o-year lease on the When war came, the onrushing . Hango Peninsula for which they paid Wehrmacht was delayed 59 days a yearly rent of $160,000 . (They before the Red Army withdrew constructed a naval base there .) from this area. The naval and air Finland also ceded the shores . of bases built there were used to Lake Ladoga and the Karelian hammer German shipping in the Isthmus near .Leningrad plus some Baltic Sea. 4 ARMY TALKS ­

Fourth : Rumania was forced to became the forces opposing them. hand .over Bessarabia to the Soviet On occasion, the direct line of Union on z6 June 1940. Bessarabia retreat might be blocked, but with was a part of the Russian Empire vast space at the Soviets' disposal, from 181z to 1856 and again from lateral maneuver was still possible. 1878 to 1918, when it was seized by Red Army forces which were isolated Rumania, an act which the Soviet were reinforced by organized guerrilla Government never recognized. fighters. Together they harassed the The addition of this territory also German rear. delayed the German advance into The Soviets estimate that the Russia for over a month after the Germans sustained casualties equiv­ first attack on 22 June 1941 . Is was alent to at least 3o full strength not until 22 July that the German divisions, as a result of guerrilla communique could claim `Bessara­ warfare . The guerrillas captured bia is completely liberated from the towns, smashed railway junctions and enemy." airfields, and struck at the enemy's store of supplies. Such action re­ Defense in Depth duced German mobility, for mobility can be developed only from a Territories the USSR acquired protected base. after September 1939 served as a Soviet cities were made into part of the buffer area where Soviet fortresses to stop tanks, absorb frontier troops absorbed the initial bombs and afford protection for shock of the German attack . These the infantry. Smolensk held up the territories were a part of the space Nazis for 70 days on the road to which the Soviet exchanged for the Moscow . Stalingrad, besieged for time she needed to bring her armies six months, was never taken. up to maximum strength. German-style blitzkrieg demands a German tactics were the same as continuous unlimited offensive, which those used in previous campaigns : strikes and if repulsed at any point, find a weak spot in the enemy's line strikes elsewhere. The USSR's dis­ or create the weak spot with artillery tances made such procedure difficult. and divebombers . . .break through with a spearhead of mechanized The Red Army forces followed by infantry . . .fan out behind the enemy lines, encircling The "defense in depth" principle is and chopping up enemy forces. good in theory, and it worked in • To meet these tactics, Red Army practice. Because the Soviet Union had defenses were planned in great depth. the space and because of the quality Soviet frontier armies retreated and of the Red Army — its men and merged with forces further behind leaders — who put it into operation. the front. As the Germans advanced, The provision of good officers was the enlarged group of Red Army a difficult problem for the USSR. men retreated still further and merged "They started from practically with more forces behind the front. nothing 20 years ago. The Russians The retreat was marked by bitter fully realized this weakness and fighting all the way . In this manner, started large and fine schools for the bulk of the Soviet forces escaped officers," according to Lt Gener­ encirclement, inflicted terrific losses al Martel, military analyst for on the enemy. The further the the London Evening Standard. If Germans advanced, the stronger "winning battles" is evidence of

27 January . 1945 5 an officer's training, then those schools 'did their job well. The Red Army long ago abolished the system of electing officers. Salut­ ing, once forbidden, is now required, and officers are strict disciplinarians. The Army is so organized that beneath the Supreme Command are a number of front commanders. Each front commander may direct the operations of two, three, four or seven armies, depending upon the length of his battle line and the importance of his sector. Generally speaking, a Colonel General - commands a front, a Lieuten­ ant General commands an army, and a Major General commands a division. Soviet papers do not inform their readers, as does the U .S. press, of the tastes, hobbies and other details of the personal life of generals, statesmen and others . "Routine in­ formation that in_ many countries is so harmless that it is published in the daily press, is considered a mili­ tary secret in the Soviet Union," reported American newspaperman Walter Kerr. "It took me eighteen months in Moscow to learn that Zhukov was married and that . his home was in the capital ." Generals From the Ranks It is known that the Red Army's leaders come from many national groups, for the Soviet Union, like the U.S, is a "melting pot ." The Russians are the majority people in the USSR, so they have produced the majority of leaders ; but Ukrainans, Cossacks, Georgians, Jews and Sibe­ rians are also high ranking officers. Almost all the generals are sons of poor people, workers or peasants. They served as privates or corporals in World War I and are young men on the average. Forty-six year-old Marshal Vassilevsky, Chief of the General Staff, is the son of a Volga ARMY TALKS ­

peasant. The former factory worker, flyers and tankmen wear special caps Marshal Zhukov, at the age -of 48 also 'dress uniforms with snappy commanded the troops which de­ white skirts, and black ties - and, stroyed the German Sixth Army at just as in our army, they are openly Stalingrad . The Red Army's greatest envied as 'the glamour boys who authority on artillery, peasant born get everything'. Marshal Voronov, is 44. Gener­ al Chernyakhovsky who worked as Combat Tips a la Russe a farm laborer and later was in the vanguard of troops that stormed "A standard part of the basic Kiev, Zhitomir and East Prussia, training for all ground troops is a has reached the ripe age of 37. recorded radio lecture by Lt Gen "It was not in organization that I V.I. Chuikov, one of the heroes of found the real strength of the Red Ar­ Stalingrad, on how to , behave during my ; nor did I find it solely in the youth an offensive .-: 'Let . your attack be a of its generals, its manpower or mu­ headlong one, ' says General Chuikov. nitions," says Walter Kerr in his book, `Get to the, enemy in one leap. In The Russian Army . "I found its open spaces, ' where the enemy is strength in the fighting heart of its sol­ target firing, you must take short diers, in their training, their discipline runs singly, jump up in a trice, and and the civilian strength behind them ." forward like an arrow . It is impor­ tant to .give ,the Germans no time to Soviet GI Gripes Like Ours take aim; run for two or three sec­ onds and then drop to the ground . . . The men of Russia have always Camouflage yourself. Take cover. been magnificent material for an Do not get separated from your army. An incident reported by a tanks. 'Fire at _ ' enemy anti-tank British newspaperman demonstrates crews and wipe them out . : Before the toughness of the Red Army men. attacking an enemy trench, throw all The reporter saw an infantry battal­ your grenades into it first . . . Do not ion file past a dump of z5-pounder be afraid of enemy tanks . When ammunition. Two shells were load­ they approach get into a hole and ed on each man's back in addition stay there. Our own tanks and to his normal load. The mud was antitank guns will take care of them. very deep, transport could not move, Your-job is to wipe out-the infantry' .” and a shortage of artillery ammuni­ Supporting the army is the Red tion at one point had to be relieved. Air Force, the Navy and the Marines. "The Red Army man mumbles In all of -these organizations as black imprecations under his breath fighters, snipers, pilots, nurses and about the Military Patrools, when engineers are women of the Soviet they pick him up for carrying- a large Union. The number of women in, package on the ' street, or for having the armed forces and the size of the 'his garrison belt buckled on the Soviet fighting organizations are wrong side. He makes the same military secrets known only to a gags about evinya tushunka (a canned few. leaders of the USSR . Together pork preparation) that we make they make a real fighting combination. about spam. In training, he hates Modern wars are not won by obstacle courses and extended order officers and men of armies ; the total drill. In combat, he curses the effort of all the people` of a nation is easy lot of the Red Air Force men necessary for victory . The late Wen­ and the Red Tank Corps men. The dell Willkie, after visiting the Eastein

27 January, 1945 T ­

Front in 1943, said, "I realized more Kuibyshev as the Germans neared in the war, if civilians had to die of clearly than ever before that in the capital city, found traffic so heavy starvation in order to keep the army Russia the phrase, `This is a people's with evacuated plants and their in the field, they died, as in Lenin­ war' has real meaning. It is the crews that a 36-hour trip took six grad. It was not that the govern­ Russian people in the fullest sense days . The removal of the machin­ ment wanted it nor that the people who are resolved to destroy Hitler­ ery from one Dnieper plant alone did. It had to be that way if the ism . What they have been through required 1,400 freight card. It was Soviet was to survive. and what they face in the months ahead as if the steel mills of Pittsburgh, the The slogan is "Everything for the cannot fail to stir any American." textile mills of New England, and Front ." Over 20 million people were automobile plants in Detroit and The only civilians in the Soviet evacuated eastward as the tide of Cleveland had to be moved to Union who escape mobilization for German invasion swept forward. Kansas City. industry, agriculture, transportation What the people could not take with The USSR in wartime is governed or employment in some government them, they destroyed. It was not by a strong hand. Elections are service are children under fourteen easy, but homes as well as barns and suspended . All orders come from years of age and physically-handi­ unmovable equipment went up in above. Everything that is said or capped men and women . Everyone flames . Orchards were chopped done is designed to meet, first, else is subject to call. Literally down. Livestock was killed or driv- the maximum needs of the millions of children fourteen, fifteen en on ahead. The nighty Dnieper army and, then, the absolute and sixteen years old are mobilized Dam, symbolizing industrial prog­ minimum needs of the into employment in trade schools. ress, was blown up to prevent the civilian population. Early There they work six and seven Germans from using the electricity which it produced . Hitler found the rich Soviet bread-basket empty and . the earth scorched. - German efforts to convert mines`,. oil wells' or factories to their needs were discouraging. The population which remained not only would not cooperate; but they sabotaged the: Germans in `every way possible .. Workers by days were guerrilla fighters by night . A Whole Nation Moves Practically no machinery had been left for Hitler to convert to his needs . The big factories of the Kharkov, Moscow, Leningrad and Rostov areas were moved eastward out of danger. V.N. Obraztsov, Director Gener­ al of Traffic, USSR said. ``We had to cope with the biggest population movement in history of evacuees, and whole industries to beyond the "Volga, to the Urals, to Central Asia, and of troops with their vast equip-. meat. to the front." American cor­ respondents leaving Moscow . for a 9 ­

hours a day at factory benches, investigation to determine whether making submachine guns, hand gre­ the reason is unwillingness or plain nades, mortars and parts . Other incompetence. . Housing conditions children of fourteen to sixteen are are deplorable ; homes are cold; mobilized for work on the country's new clothing is needed — these are collective farms, wherever they are sacrifices for the army. needed most. "The people of the Soviet Union, When the war broke out, all men, women, and children alike, civilian- construction was stopped. have made the war with Germany a The government, for example, stop­ 'people's war'," says our own War ped work on the Palace of the Department . "No government could Soviets which was to have been an have secured such enthusiastic obe­ enormous steel and concrete building, dience to orders and such eager ini­ taller than the Empire State Build-, tiative on the part of a whole people ing. The war found its substruc­ unless the people themselves had ture completed and its steel girders found that they had something worth in place up to the fifth story. This fighting for, worth dying for . if was a great Soviet dream, but an needs be. It may have been their order . was issued to tear it down old love for their soil. It may have been their devotion to the Soviet and use the structural steel for regime—the first in Russian history military purposes. to show any great concern for the The pressure is on the civilian all people's welfare." Wise men will the time. If he does his work probably agree that it was both. well he is paid for it, though there The retreat of industry to the is little he can buy for his money. east is only a part of the story of the If he does his job poorly, there is an Soviets' industrial effort for victory. 10 ARMY TALKS ­

;The total factory output-of Czarist aluminum, .railroad -rails, telephone Russia _on the eve of world War I wire, chemicals, and medical supplies. was about the same as that of the We dismantled, remodeled and moved US during the years when Thomas bodily into Russia a tire plant capable Jefferson was President. At the of producing a million tires a year. start of the present war, Soviet American shipments to the USSR industry was producing twelve times now average about 300 million as much. Long before the Germans dollars per month, or about 27 per­ thundered across Western Russia, cent of the Lend-Lease materials many industrial centers had been built which we provide to all Allies. east of the Ural mountains, far Donald M. Nelson, former chair­ from the reach of grasping Germans. man of the American War Production Board , reported after his visit to the Democracies Pledge Aid USSR in October 1943 that wherever he went he found "deep appreciation Nevertheless, the heart of Soviet of the part which American material industry was in the west. ' Fifty has played in aiding the Soviets to percent of her food, steel and cast stem and drive back the Nazi iron had been produced there. Forty invaders ." percent 'of the Soviet output of The USSR did not rely only on coal and machine tools and twenty aid from abroad. Industrial retreat percent of her oil had come from became industrial attack. - Almost as areas overrun by Hitler's forces. soon as- the last - German soldier. had Realizing the USSR's desperate been forced out of a town by the need for supplies, Prime Minister Red Army, the rebuilding of that Churchill declared on 22 June 1941 town and its industries began. that Any marl or State who fights The Kiev correspondent for the against Nazism will have our aid." Soviet War News reports that in The United States 48 hours later also less than a year after the liberation of pledged every possible assistance to that city 242 factories were working. the Soviet Union in the war against In the first nine months of 1 944, Germany. those factories supplied the army and Great Britain rendered valuable aid the home front with 16o million to the Soviet, particularly in the roubles' worth of goods. way of finished munitions, and the United States shipped almost six Scorched Earth Blooms Again billion dollars' worth of Lend-lease supplies to the Soviet Union during Smolensk was liberated 26 Sept the first three years of the war. 1943 . "Immediately after the expul­ The ace of fighter pilots, Lt Col sion of the Germans, the people of Alexander Pokryshkin of the Soviet the region set to work to restore air force shot down 48 of his 59 Nazi their towns and villages," reports the planes in a Bell Airacobra . It was correspondent from Smolensk. one of the 11 ,000 planes we have They restored to working , order. supplied. From Oct 1942 until July 113 factories, and set up 43 new 1944 we sent 3,079,000 tons of factories turning out over 400 prod­ wheat, flour, canned meat, canned ucts. The 'peasants in • the area not milk and other foodstuffs to the only restored 7,140 collective farms, USSR. In the first six months of but reached the . pre-war level for 1944 alone, we supplied 84,000 mili­ winter and ' spring sewing." tary motor vehicles, along with In Kharkov ; -A "grinding-lathe fac­

27 January, 1945 11 ­

tory began to produce lathes while the work of scientists . Some food was walls were still going up and long be­ supplied from the Arctic Circle, fore the roof was on . IIvestia writes because Soviet scientists developed that in Kharkov "freed a year ago, seeds which could grow that far 24b industrial enterprises are pro­ north. New methods of hardening ducing for the front." metals were discovered when the When possible, Soviet engineers Germans took over the raw materials arc bypassing the lengthy process used in older processes. of tearing-down a badly damaged One of the most important "sup­ structure, salvaging the material and plies" in time of war and one where rebuilding. They are trying to make Soviet scientists have made an out­ use of sections of building still standing contribution is in the field standing. At Stalino, a huge brick of medicine . United States Surgeon wall that was leaning 35 degrees out General Parran said, "among the of line was straightened. Sections recent contributions of Soviet medi­ of plants weighing many tons have cine can be mentioned pioneer work been levered or "craned" into posi­ on transfusion of blood and blood tion. banks ; transplantation of cornea, The instances of rebuilding which nerves, and other tissues . . .Soviet have been cited are not exceptions; medicine has also had large expe­ they can be multiplied many times rience in extensive public health over. projects ; in the prevention and eradi­ The Soviets' ability, to supply cation of malaria, typhus, tularemia their armies is partly due to the hard and venereal diseases ."

12 ARMY TALKS ­

WORKING TOGETHER . IN WAR AND PEACE This is a war of 37 nations united Although differences exist between against a common enemy. Victory the forms of government in the in Eastern Europe is being achieved United States and the USSR, both by the people of the Soviet Union; governments are opposed to the we have a small share in that triumph. fundamental Fascist ideas on which Their victory in turn is helping us Germany has operated : (1) the master to win in the West. Whoever race, (z) the State is all important, pushes back the armies of the Axis (3) lebensraum, and (4)'- desire to anywhere, advances the cause of dominate the world. liberty-loving people everywhere. Marshal Stalin declared on 7 Nov Four Fallacies of Fascism 1944, "The troops and Navy of our Allies accomplished a mass landing Master race ? If the US is a operation on the coast of France that "melting pot", then the Soviet was unparalleled in history for scope Union is an electric mixer." Scien­ and organization, and overcame the tists have counted 189 "races" in German fortifications with consum- the USSR. Under the Tsars, many mate skill. . .There can be no doubt of the racial minorities were perse­ that without the opening of the cuted. Today in the Soviet Union, Second Front in. Europe which holds there is no such thing as racial as much as 75 German divisions, our discrimination in practice or in troops would not have been able to theory. The people. of each "race". break the resistance of the German have been encouraged to retain their forces and knock them out of the own language, customs and individ- Soviet Union in such a short time. uality and to educate themselves and develop the economic wealth Fronts of Equal Importance of the area in which they live. "But it is equally indubitable that State is all important ? Some, without the powerful offensive oper- people profess to see strong likeness , ations of the Red Army in the between the Soviet and Nazi forms summer of this year, which held- of government because each permits, as many as zoo German divisions, but one legal political party, each the forces of our Allies could not have uses propaganda and secret police. coped so quickly with the German However, the goals of the two govern- forces and knocked them out of ments are poles apart . The monop- Central Italy, France and Belgium." oly of the Communist Party is The Soviets realize as we do that imposed to protect the interest of victory will not be won in the East the common people against those who or West until the armies of Germany had formerly advantage of them. have been beaten into unconditional Its purpose is the welfare of the surrender . Marshal Stalin concluded people, not the welfare of the state.` his address, stating that one final In Germany, dictatorship sacrificed' mission remained to the Red Army, the people's welfare to the goal of pre­ "to complete, together with the armies paring Germans for aggressive war. of our Allies, the defeat of the German- To illustrate this fundamental differ- Fascist army, to finish off the Fascist ence, the Soviets have encouraged- beast in. its own den; and to hoist trade unions ; Hitler destroyed unions. the flag of victory over Berlin." Russia adopted the e eight-hour day 27 January, 1945 13 ­

action co preserve peace; Trotsky, leader of the "world revolutionists," was exiled in 1927 . . .Russia accepted the Kellogg-Briand Pact to outlaw war in 1928 . . . they joined the League of Nations in 1934 and supported all attempts at disarmament . . . they abol­ ished the Comintern (the Commu­ nist International) in May 1943 . In Stalin's words, "We have no ideas of imposing our regime on other peoples . . ' . Our aim is to help liberate and later reduced it to seven (until them from Nazi tyranny and then the danger of war ,was immediate); to leave them free to live in their the Nazis lengthened the working own lands as they wish ." day long before the outbreak of war. The Soviets granted equality We Can Settle Differences to women—they work as farmers, The forms of government may engineers, heads of industries ; the differ, but the Allies are united in the Fascists compelled women to give up war against Fascist Germany . Prob­ jobs on the theory that woman's lems will arise among nations as primary job was to produce children. they arise among the people of The number of Soviet men and one nation. The Allies have had 800 women in colleges increased by certain disagreements about the war Ger- percent from 1914 to 1937 ; in which they have settled . We are many, the number decreased by working together for victory in the more than 50 percent from 1932 to east and .west ; will we be able to 1937 . Before World War I, only work together for victory in peace ? 33 percent of the people of Russia President Roosevelt, Marshal Stalin could read or write . Today practically and Prime Minister Churchill -gave everyone has been taught to do so. this answer to that question at the Te- Lebensraum ? Stalin declared in heran Conference, 1 December 1943 : 1936, "We want no foot of foreign "We express our determination that territory." In area, the USSR is as our nations shall work together in the large as all of the US, Canada and war and in the peace that will follow. Alaska ; it covers one-sixth of the "As to the war, our military staffs land surface of the earth . Like the have joined in our roundtable dis- United States, it has nearly every- cussions and we have concerted our thing and lots of it—space, iron, plans for destruction of the German coal, electric power, oil and grain. forces. We have reached complete Rule the world ? The early lead- agreements as to the scope and ers of Communism in Russia, advocat- timing of operations which will be ed world revolution. Communist undertaken from the east, west and policy was modified in 1927 by Stalin, south. The common understanding who believed Russia 's most impor- which we have here reached guar­ tant contribution to socialism lay antees that victory will be ours. not in revolution but in building "And as to the peace, we are sure socialism successfully at home . The that our concord will make it an Soviet Union became one of the enduring peace. We recognise fully strongest supporters of cooperative the supreme responsibility resting

14 ARMY TALKS ­

upon us and all the nations to make a peace which will command good . will from the overwhelming masses of the peoples of the world and banish the scourge and terror of war for many generations. "With our diplomatic advisers we have surveyed the problems of the future. We shall seek the coopera­ tion and active participation of all nations, large and small, whose peoples in heart and in mind. are dedicated as are our own peoples, to the elimination of tyranny and pattern of Fascist defeat has taken slavery, oppression and intolerance. clearer form. We will welcome them as they may Eric Johnston, president of the choose to come into the world family United States Chamber of Commerce, of democratic nations ." frankly told USSR leaders when he At Teheran, American, British and visited Moscow, and further empha­ Soviet leaders renewed their deter­ sized it when he returned to the mination to carry on the fight against United States, that differences which Fascism to speedy and unconditional may persist in economic and polit­ surrender of the common enemy. In ical systems need not endanger addition they laid the ground-work greatly expanded trade relations .. for organization of peace, and stated Other unfinished business includes that it was their common intention to the organization of international make renewed aggression impossible. control for post-war commercial air traffic, and the exertion of balanced "" We Can Do Business power on the Security Council .* Marshal Stalin has summed up with Russia " these conferences and their results It has been recognized that certain tersely and frankly : problems cannot be settled at the "The surprising thing," he says, present stage of the struggle, so "is not that differences exist, but complex are the military, political that they are so few, and that as a and economic issues interwoven in rule in practically every case they modern total war. Questions of are resolved in a spirit of unity and boundary lines, of trade routes and coordination among the three Great post-war economics cannot be sepa­ Powers . " rated from, military issues, but at the * See ARMY TALKS, DUMBARTON same time cannot be solved until the OAKS, Framework for Peace, 1 6 Dec . 44.

"What about Siberian bases for attacking Japan? Vladivostock lies at the end of a long supply line which is particulary vulnerable from Khabarovsk down . The Japanese Army has 500,003 troops deployed all along this supply route . If we or the Russians were to use these bases to bomb Japan, the bases would be made useless and Russia would be involved in a two-front war . Russia is engaging the main Nazi strength, and a two-front war for Russia would diminish the pressure on the worried Nazis and endanger the plans of our own army ." -- From the W .D . film, "War Department Report' ."

27 January, 1945 15 NEWSCOPE

" WE HAVE RETURNED " The battle for Leyte and Samar (4) Jap factories produce about Islands in the Philippines began on 1,500 planes a month . That is more 20 October 1944 and ended on than the Allies are shooting down, 25 December. The Japs lost 2 ,74 8 as yet. planes in defense of the two islands (5) Lack of roads and railroads and suffered 117,997 casualties as favors entrenched or retreating Japs. against American losses of 11,217. In the 7,000 islands which make up Persistent efforts to reinforce his the Philippines, there are but 85 air­ garrisons on Leyte indicates the ports, a scant 15,000 miles of highways enemy's determination to fight an and less than 1,000 miles of rail­ all-out battle in the Philippines. roads. Most of these facilities are Apparently, the basis of Tokyo's on Luzon, a single northern island strategy is that in a war of attrition the "soft" democracies can be bled about the size of Virginia or Ohio. into a stalemate. On the other side of the slate : United Nations' Navies are annually- From the Japanese point of view, sending 1,500,000 tons of the enemy's the Philippines present a good bat­ shipping to the bottom and he pro­ tlefield for this purpose : (1) Their duces only r,000,000 tons a year. lifeline from Japan to Manila is Increasing B-29 raids on aircraft fac­ comparatively secure from air attack tories will lower plane production. now that United Nations' airfields US landings on the southern part in Southeastern China have been of Mindoro Island on 15 Dec further captured. endanger the enemy's Philippine (2) Enemy supply routes through supply line ; four beach-heads secured the interior waters of the Philip­ 9 Jan on Luzon endanger Jap control pines are guarded by a well-developed of all the Philippine islands. Japanese network of air bases (see map.) air and manpower losses in the defense The Allies have been attacking this of Leyte are but a taste of what they line and have taken a heavy toll of must expect after combined US- lives and ships, but Japanese men and British power released by victory supplies are getting through. in the West is concentrated in the Pacific. Plenty of Japs (3) The Japs can risk manpower SORRY ! We received so many losses. They have 4,000,000 soldiers entries in the ARMY TALKS 2,000,000 in China, in the field : Contest that the judges were the remainder scattered throughout Southeast Asia and the Philippines. snowed under ! All we can get them In addition, 2,000,000 reserves at to say right now is, "Too many home are fully equipped, trained and and too good!" They promise to ready to move . Beyond that, 250,000 have the winners soon, however, reach draft age every year. (Japa­ and the annoucement will be made nese war dead since 1937, less than in ARMY TALKS, 3 February. 1,000,000 .)

LISTEN : Tune in your American Forces Network for a dramatized version of the week's ARMY TALKS. Time : 1030 Saturday, 3rd February, 1945. Printed for H .M . stationery Office .

AIRFIELDS f11)' HELD- BY JAPS

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JAPANESE INTERIOR - LINE OF SUPPLY

PANAY W HEN a Mark IV suddenly turns a,corner and starts in your direc- tion. . .when Jerry MG crossfire opens up . . .when you hit a booby-trapped town. .brother, it ' s too late to get out Field Manual Umpteen dash Umpty-Umph for a refresher course. You've got to act — but quick ! That means starting now ! Every week battle veterans are giving you the benefit of their experience, learned the hard way — to help save YOUR life! Read them. Re-read and discuss them . When the time comes to act, you'll know more about what to do, how to do it. Read Combat Tips " on the inside front cover of ARMY TALKS every week. Ask your Information and Education Officer for back issues with feature combat articles . Read " The Old Sergeant's Corner " and the battle stories in WARWEEK, the supplement to STARS AND STRIPES. Ask your I & E Officer to see his copy of BATTLE EXPERIENCES -- fresh accounts of latest enemy tactics from all fronts in the ETO. These combat aids are straight stuff . They're not meant to entertain. They're not funny. They 're published TO SAVE LIVES . Make it a point to read them regularly.