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THE MARCH OF WAR THE EASTERN FRONT (February 10 to April 30, 1945)

~ our lost survey (Mo.rcl! 1045) we reviewed the (7) , with its nat and thinly populated I went winter offensive which carried the SovietR countryside, was occupied by the Red armies com· from the Vistula t.o the . 'Ye expressed tbe paratively quickly, and by tho end of tho second half opinion that, owing to approaching t.haw, Bupply of March th entire Bnlt,ie coast between the c tuariea difficulties, and the necc6Sity of dealing with un· of the Vistulu and the Oder was in Soviet hnnds. defeated, by·passed centers of resistance, the offensive (8) The main Germl1Jl stronghold east of lho Quer in the centrnl sector would come to a tomporary IIOlt,. est,uary was located at Allda1llm. Having held lip This bait" c1enrly visible on our map, lasted until the Soviet ntt.acks against Stettin for many weeks, Alt­ middle of April. During this period tho Soviets dnmm was evacuated by tho Germans on March 22. brought up vnst now ormios. consolidated their Uli After major fighting hud ceased on Ute northern y t smnll bridgchcads wcst of the Odor, carried out wing, tho Soviets massed strong forces wldor I he probi,ng /ltt ncl,s to find weak spots in t,he 'German command of Marshal RokoS5ovsky along tho lower defense. o.nd preparcd nll·out assaults on obstacles on Oder for a push into the aratL betwcon tho Baltic and the rood I,u Berlin such as the fortreS5es of :Frankfurt Rerlin. (The Commundor of tho III Whito Russia" and Kl:'strin. Up to the beginning of the bottle for Army, Goneral Chornyo.khovsky. had died on F'ebruar.v Berlin on April 16, large.scale fi~hting took place 18 and was replaced by Marshal Vasilyevsky.) A only on tho northern and southern WlDgS of the Eastern pa.rticuJar feature of tho Hghting on this front was Front,. the large.seale employment of German naval force.-, which pa.rticipated in the defense of tho Germall .. THE NORTHERN wnw b68tions as well as in the evacuation of eiviliuns anrl Before resuming their great offensive into the henrt lroops. No participation of the Soviet Daltic neet of Gennany, the Soviet,s wished to eliminate all Ger· worth me'l1tioning has become known. man forces and bastions still holding out along the TlIE SOUTHERR WING Baltic Co68ts east of the -oder and thence menacing Our map shows that relatively litt,le happened the extended Soviet lines of communication. From win~ nlong the northern soction of tho :::;oviet8' left wing. oat to west, the fighting along the northern It was tho heroic defense of Breslau (besieged since centered around the follo\ving areas: F'ebruo.ry 12) which, located in tbe center of the (I) Neither the fourth battle of Kurl(/.nd (January 24 to Februo.ry 6), nor the filth 8.Dd sixth bottles in Sile ian Jines of communication. interfered with tho quick deploymont of tho Soviet armies. Breslau. this a.rea (February 21/2 and March 17 to April 1» after rejecting Marshal Konyev's tlemand for sur­ brought the Soviots the conquest of t,his heroicnll~' defended German outpost,. In spite of the employment render 8S far back /lli I. bruary 20, is still holding out in spite of daily assaults by superior ovict forces. of large numbers of divisions, in spito of stubborn But whilo the Soviets did Dot gain new territory attempts Md considerable 108800, the Reds made no headway. The German defenders aro still holding­ worth speaking of in this sector, they used the time their positions, including the ports of Liba,u and for the mll8sing of troops in tbe NeiS5e area in prep. Windau. n.ration of a drivo into the region between tho. udeten ~Iountains and Berlin. (2) The noxt German bll8tion along tho Baltic, the crushing of wbich the Soviets havo not yet been The main disappointment for the Soviet.s was their able to report, is the .Srtmland Penillsula, northwest innbility to force the Moravian Gate (nlong tho upper of Kon.ip;sberg. AJt.llOugh the port of Pillou finally reaehos of the Oder) into former Czochoslovakin al­ fell to tho Soviet,s on April 25, tbe defense on the though they had been attacking in this distri t since peninsula is st ill being kept up. January. In tho entl tIlCy wore compelled to open an (3) Ln,rge-scale Hghting in Konigsberg, cut off for entrance into the MorlLvinn plains, not, 68 they had hoped and as would havo been preferablo from the Il. considerable time from its overland commllDications with the rest of Gormany, ceased ou April 10 when point of view of comnllmieations, from tho oast, i.e., Genera.! Lasch, ('ommander of t he garrison forces. , through tho lItoravian Gate neer M. Ostruu, surrendered the I'Ilins of the city. However. some of but from the south, i.e., from Hungary. his forccs rofused lO comply with bis orders and fought AJong the BOuthern section of their left wing. I he their way to the troops on the So.mland Peninsulu. £ted armies on the other h8.Dd scored large territorial (4) The defenders of EUJing Ilbllndoned the port gains. At first, after the evacuation of Budapost, on February 10 and joined t he forces fighting in the German resistance and counterattacks ill the Danube. Danzig area. Drave area had kept the Soviets in che('k until \\"1'11 (5) Danzig and the estuaries of the ViJltulo. were into March, but in the second half of that monti. tim cut off from overhUld orwect ion with the rcst of Soviets opened a powerful llttack. Its main objeeti\'(). wb n the Soviets reached the Baltic in Vienna, Wll.ll rcachod on April (j and capt umtl 011 Pomerania on ~Inrch 6 in the region northwest of April 1:1. From hero the Soviets moved on we Iword K6sJin. However, the German troops here continued along the Danuhe towlIrd Linz. Meanwhile', another heir defense and were only eva{)uatod (A pril I) after army was sent northward into former Czeehoslovllkiu, capturing Brunn on April 26 and thus getting into destroying tbe ports of Danzig and Gotcnhafen, ~Ioroviull rendering them unusable for the ·oviets. the rear of the t:erman dofenders at the Gate. (ll) The isolated strong"',lds of Sc/meidemUhl, Posen, Md Graudenz fought to the last and were not over· TlIE BATTLE FOll BERLlN whelmed until Fobruary 1·\, February 23, and March Since early April the Germans expccted Ihe start G, respectivoly. of the all·out Soviet ofionsive a,gainot Berlin from the TIlE MARCH OF W Al\ 281

lower Odor (RokoMOvsky). from the middle Odor April 25 I\t Torgau. Although muny ot.her loca]jtiell , (Jukov). and from tho ~eisse (Konyev). 'fho offensive wore involved. the eenter of military operations lUI wos begun on April 16 l\l 3.50 a.m. by tho annies of well os of world attention WI18 Berlin. Here tho l Juko\" olll1 KOn\·e\·. whilo t.ho armies wHlt'r Rokos· Soviets were employing thousonds of tanks find planes so\"sky jninud il~ 011 April 26, nnd. according to a Stockholm roport. I ~ million mono Tho ehiof drivo of LIlLI offensi"O wns diroctod townrd Tho Rod armies reached the liuburbs of tho city on UL·rlill. while u sub idiory wcd~ was pll"heL! toward April 20. By the end of April tho OermUllll were still 'he Eluc Ri"or hctwl'ell Ucrlin nnd the 'udet()n )Ioun· resisting in severnl sections of tho naming city. But tlllJ1B, estuuli 'hing clmloct wit h tho Americans un the end WI1S in sight.

Th Eastern nnJ "'estern Fronts iu Europe up to April 30. Ill45. Tho red linee iudicate tho apprt'xiruuto L'VUI'SO of tho fl'Out cvory ton days. Tho two honry lillos show tho Wostern und Enst.crn frouls ull April :JO

THE '''ESTERN FRO T (JanWll'Y 10 to Aplil 30, 1945)

wE: T 0 .. TIlE: lID1NIt on January :?O uga.inet the large bridgehead of Kalmar. bet.ween t h upper Rhine and 'he Vosges Mountains. HE l,t'ginning of tho yenr suw mlljor ti1l;hting Ti,e forn10" govo tho B"itish \.Jill.,' .'light torritol'inl on I wo ~ctor8 onl~" (flCO our reviow in t hl' j.:llin at the COMt of grellt lo~s; UUI II", luttl'1' I·esldted. T Febrllury i. 110). Allied pr uro uguill~l I ho "ft,,1' u tW('lIl.y-one·dLlY hlllll"', III tllf' oIe(und",rs (;('rJUIIIl tiulicut ill northern Lu.xemhur'Jrl anti \\ 11 hdrt\\\"'l1g to the l.'U-..qlcnl luud< (If tile H.hllit'. H.~IJ.li\lln in('rf'o.."'Nl dHrifl~ .JonuH ~', (urei..Ilg tht' ""(·ltr· ":nrly ill Fl'uruary Iho celli I'llI I't,,·t If lh,- frolli. 1I"...ht to ;:i\'o 1;1'01111<1 MI\.J\\ly. !llll tllv (:urlll""~ re­ \\ "" btll-k 1 v where HlII"lst",dt', I I"(:romb,',· ofT.,m;i,'o tllill(·d tll(' illitin.tivc' b('twecll tho 1II'pl'\}' ~UUI' Hnd tile II1HI stlll'ted, The b",gillnillg vf ,I", t.(n:lIt AlliNI oIT..Il­ "I'I'L'r Hhill!'. wh"I'O t hoy rtlca!,llll','d the ~1,,~iIlOI ~I ... e Wiln OIlCt' lOoro d,'lllyeJ h.v Il f"rtnillht by the 1.1110 u.~ \\ell ,,~ " slrip of lerrilur.... l\.J lhe suulh of it. d~ Illuulting Oil Feurulll"~ 10 of thu Koel'lulll l-rfl. Else\\ h(\f'(', t\;.;ht in~ \\ mi only 011 U tniuor 6-(.'0 Ie. Ub Hi ...",r dalLls, ,'auoing lL tlvod ill the Allied d p10.\'Inelll. 1'1' 'l'arutionR woro l>t·ill~ IlIndo for t hc great.. Allied IlreLl in tho ceni,rnl bel't"r. "ffell,;ivl'. I)"rilll-( tllV Mecoml h,,!f uf Janll"I','" the On Fohruul'.\' 23. lit. 2.·1[, "'.IU.. ,I", [II h 111101 1st l'S .\lIi d eo"'"11\1 Il1 beglill "I'"'ntiion.ll "I IW\.J I'villt~ \\ ith .\nnies b(·gILll thei.r IIJug·expcl"cd dri,'o 011 u wido lh object of winninH tler startillg p(),'!itioll8, \'iz,. ..",lor of the cent rul Crollt. .'0111 fony di\'isiolls. (I) all January 16 again t the U nJum bridg h ad in and sl.roQglir air formutiun thun e,'ell during tho t hc llQer,'~lllllS trio.nglo south of lloermond. llnd (2) landing operutions ill Jli"orma.ndy. were thrown into tal THE XXth CENTURY the battle. Attacks by the British against the lowor reporUi continued to be full of refer nOOll to "fanatioal Rhine Bnd by the 3rd US Army botween Trier Bnd resistane " on the part of tho G rmllllB. the upper Roor were oo·ordinated with the main thrust. But I,ho gapB botween t,ho oontl'1'8 of Gorman reo By the lDiddlo of Morch tho Allies hud o('cu-pi~'

THE RAINMAKER By HERMANN HESSE Herma1ln Ht88e, now clcue on 8We-nty, i" one of Gormany's k.ading GulAor" Eller 8i'lce he wrote h~ fir8t novel more than forty years ago, he heu "un ,t"-'{lUling wilh the problc1I14 of human characlt; and with the quuiion (U to wh

IT was mnny them to be ble d; pregnant women came and tholt!~llnn years begged that she might toueh them and pro\·ide AgO. and the a nama for what they were expecting. wom(,'o were in In thu evenings there sa.t in front of the power: in tribe matriarch's mud hut not sh her elf but her ann family it was daughter, hardly less white IIond dignifi d nor tho mother and much less aged than the great-grandmother. grandmother who From hor mouth there flowed the source of corom!lnded von· 1u1Owlodgc; she preserved the trea-sure of the eratioll a.nd 000­ tribe under her white hair, behind her gently dionce; when chil­ wrinkled brow lived the memories and the dren were born, spirit of the settlement. If anyone had knowl­ girls were mueh more highly prized than boys. edge and knew pToverbs or storie.• he had them In tbo village th ro was a great-grandmother {rom her. Beside her and the ancient ono who must have been a hundred years old or there wall only one more initiated person in more, revered a.nd feared by all as a queen, the tribe; but he rema.ined more hidden, a. although, as long as people could remember. mysterious and very taciturn man, the weather­ he had but rarely lifted 110 fingor or poken 1\ or rainmaker. He became the mo t important word. Many a day she sat in front of the person in the village at those times wbell h entrance to her hut, surrounded by a suite of ha.d really to officiate I.I.S weathermaker. 1'hi attendant relatives, a.nd the women of the happened when a long period of drought, wet, village came to pay her homage, to tell her or cold laid siege to the fields and threatened of their affairs, to show her their children for the tribe with famine. Then Turu, the rain-