World Battlefronts: BATTLE OF RUSSIA: Moscow Aware

Not since the Nazis stood on Moscow’s threshold last October had the city been so preoccupied with war. At newspaper kiosks Muscovites waited for each edition, pored over the communiques without moving on. Loudspeakers blared news from street corners. In nearly every home a map was spread out each evening while housewives explained communiques to their children. Everyone knew that these were the war’s gravest hours. People talked little about war or peace aims beyond beating the Nazis.

> No foreigners could engage a Russian in conversation for five minutes without mention of the second front, backed by persuasive argument and analogy:

It’s like a movie being made about Hitler. There is a British agent lurking around Berchtesgaden to kill the Fuhrer. Time & again he has a beautiful chance, but he never pulls the trigger. Why? Because he is never able to draw a bead on Hitler’s heart.

> Men & women from shops, offices and hotels were drafted to bring in wood for winter fuel. Before a performance of the ballet Don Quixote it was announced that Premiere Ballerina Merserer would not appear. She was stiff from chopping wood.

> More women replaced men at heavy tasks: truck driving, street car operation, trench digging, munitions manufacturing. It was hard labor—but it was better than slavery in the conquered Ukraine (see cut). Nearly all women not in essential services were in uniforms.

> People bought more flowers than ever from stands overflowing with daisies, gladioli, sweet peas and roses. Soldiers leaving for the front often received the flowers.

> Women on subways stood to give their seats to soldiers.