BATTLE OF RUSSIA: 7 Leagues, 7 Leagues Onward

July had seen Field Marshal Fedor von Bock set in motion his great 1942 offensive for the conquest of all southern Russia and a mortal blow at the Red army. By early August, advancing with seven-league strides, he was within sight of his first objective.

His heaviest initial blow had fallen on Timoshenko’s central and southern wings in the Volchansk-Voroshilovgrad region. Badly smashed up, the Russians had retreated, opening the way for Bock’s first big advance of the year.

Rostov, at the Don’s mouth, was captured. In eight days Bock’s mechanized forces dashed some 170 miles through the Don Valley. Only 50 miles from Stalingrad were they slowed to resumption of foot-by-foot fighting.

Lancing south from Rostov, the Germans swept through wheat and fruit lands more than 100 miles. The northern Caucasus was theirs, for the Red army had no practical way of supplying any sizable defense between the advancing Germans and the towering Caucasus range.

Battle Indices. In July’s last week the Germans counted 482 Russian tanks destroyed in the Kalach sector, index of the Don loop battle’s fierceness. In the month’s last ten days they counted 815 Soviet aircraft destroyed.

Into the headquarters of thin-lipped Junker von Bock, who has squandered men to win and lose some of Nazi Germany’s greatest battles,* poured military dispatches that told him his foe was all but whipped in the northern Caucasus, that Timoshenko’s main strength was apparently concentrated in a vast arc before Stalingrad, that German positions along the Don at Voronezh were safe for the moment. Bock might be on the threshold of an even greater victory. He could look with satisfaction on what his Panzers, shock troops, snub-nosed caterpillar guns and rank-on-rank of efficient infantrymen had achieved. He could look with hawk-eyed anticipation at the mighty Volga, throbbing artery that pumps the heart of Russia, almost within his grasp. With brains and reasonable luck he might sever that artery by autumn, cut the Red army and Russia from its Caucasian oilfields and enormously complicate Russian supply problems from outside.

Iron Pig. But Bock was too astute a commander to underestimate either his remaining hurdles or the wily stubbornness of his foe. He had only to read details of the southern battle to understand:

¶ Where Bock’s tanks outnumbered Timoshenko’s, sometimes as much as 4-to-1, the Russians had laid ambushes. Along a two-mile front they had sunk half a dozen light tanks into the earth as pillboxes. Three or four other tanks were left free to attempt to lure German tanks into the line of fire, with some success. But still the Germans pushed on.

¶ To discover the location of German batteries, the Russians fastened machine guns in trees, operated them by long strings. When the Germans opened fire on unmanned guns, the Nazi positions were revealed and opened to Soviet assault. Still the Germans pushed on.

¶ Attempting to reach the Don at Letskaya, the Germans tried to crack Russian defenses with revival of svinya (pig), a device used centuries ago by the Teutonic knights. They formed a triangle of several score tanks, filled the center with infantry, then rammed the Soviet line, hoping that the infantrymen could mushroom out behind the lines after a breakthrough. The Russians were not caught napping. They broke the triangle and mauled the hapless foot soldiers. But still the Germans pushed on.

Cuckoos. To keep advancing, Bock and his staff were digging deep into their bag of tricks.

¶ Tommy gunners took to trees along roadsides to pick off Red infantry. In groups of four, one would operate the gun, the others spot approaching enemies. The Russians called them kukushkas (cuckoos) and sent their best soldiers out to destroy them, with orders not to fire at more than 165 yards.

¶ Before German tank columns attempted a breakthrough, artillery frequently laid down a barrage, lasting as much as an hour, to mislead the Russians about the direction of the planned attack. Red-bannered Nazi tanks were sent into the Soviet lines on superscouting expeditions.

¶ Tank detachments thundered forward to locate enemy batteries by provoking fire. Many Nazi tanks were thus destroyed, but to Bock the gain was well worth the sacrifice.

Railways & Rivers. Russian dispatches told of reserves thrown in to strenghen Timoshenko’s lines. But thus far they had done no more than stay the tide of battle before Stalingrad.

On the Stalingrad front Bock was at a disadvantage in transportation. Railways networked behind the Russian lines and the mighty Volga gave the Red army much better access to supplies. But the weight of men & materials was on BOCK’S side. The prize, a chance to slash across the Volga, was worthy of his bloodiest efforts. More important to Russia than the Mississippi is to the U.S.. the Volga on its broad back carries the steel, oil. ore. tanks, guns and food of a vast chain of industrial cities stretching from its headwaters, between Leningrad and Moscow, to the salty Caspian. Canals, first dreamed of by Peter the Great, connect it with the Baltic. The Caspian is a gateway to Baku, to Iran and the outside world. Already Nazi bombers were pounding Volga shipping.

Once across the Volga, Bock’s armies could well rest, counting 1942 a year of victory. The way would be clear for Germany to strike another body blow at battered Russia, perhaps in the far north against supply lines from across the seas, perhaps at Moscow, where proud Fedor von Bock has a haunting defeat to sponge from his Prussian escutcheon.