World Battlefronts: A SONG FROM THE CAUCASUS

TIME Correspondent James Aldridge last week cabled this dispatch from the Soviet-Iranian Border.

Along these terrible roads Red Army units are moving toward one of the many battlefronts. They have all been in battle before. Now they are returning after resting up. There is cavalry among them, and it is the first cavalry I have seen in this war.

Cavalry is the Russian winter weapon. Some of these horsemen were operating with General Melnik the whole of .last winter some five hundred miles behind the German lines. One of the officers told me they were pretty lean when they came out, but now they are square-looking again, their horses are fresh and they can sing.

They were singing a Ukrainian song which has no name. They leaned forward to counteract the steep trail, their long swords jangling against their stirrups, their bodies creaking on leather.

The mountain roads are a panorama of up-moving and down-moving transport. Here the Russians have utilized everything to get stuff up: even brown, shaggy Tibetan camels are lined through the valleys. Mules in stupid groups mingle on the road, slowing up U.S.-made trucks ably driven by Red Army drivers. The strange smell of Russian petrol is mixed with horse, mule and camel manure and the natural pleasantness of the hills.

Everybody is waiting for the first signs of winter. Up here it is goddamn cold and the wind rips down from the Black and Caspian Seas. Sometimes black clouds scud over the Caucasus. But when the wind ceases and clouds lie tranquil, then comes snow and thick rain and real cold. That is what all these men are waiting for. That, after the second front, is what the whole Soviet Union is waiting for.

If Stalingrad falls, most of the German weight will be directed against the Caucasus. There are five ways through the Caucasus: one route on the Caspian Sea, one on the Black Sea, three passes across terrible mountains. They all come out into the southern Caucasus valley, stretching from Batum to Baku. It is most probable that, if Stalingrad falls, the German drive will be directed on Baku.

Should the Caucasus battle develop this winter, it is likely to be a personal-leader struggle between German General Siegmund List and Russian General Melnik. Melnik conducted the guerrilla offensive all last winter behind the German lines. He is more of a flat-terrain soldier than a mountaineer, but the essentials of the battle for the Caucasus will be fought in the approaches and. because the Germans will not be able to move much in winter, this tough Soviet Cossack will probably harass the Germans more than the actual battle will.

The Red Army is more serious about the war than any other army I have met. They are soldiers first and last. Their discipline is the best I have seen in any army, but with an essential and common-sense approach. On duty they are formal with officers. Off duty, officers and men mix more than in any army I have seen.

Myths about the inefficiency of Soviet transport are dispelled by the tremendous movements going on here. Here they get things moving with more common sense and less paper work and red tape than in most armies. There is also more of a chance for men to make suggestions. In Tabriz I interviewed 30-year-old Colonel Boris Ruhjov. He did not have a paper on his desk, only a field telephone and a map. He had no gestures, no habits to exhibit.

I asked him the stock question about the second front. He said: “I am a simple soldier. These decisions are up to others in higher places.” When I pressed him, he said carefully, with a smile: “We would like to see many more United States soldiers in Britain ready for action in Western Europe.”

Soldiers in Tabriz have a remarkable record. There has not been one case of a Red Army soldier molesting anyone. You never see a Red soldier drunk.

Soviet women soldiers are truck drivers, doctors, nurses, field workers, map makers, pilots. There is nothing glamorous about them. In town they wear the same uniform as the men, except that they wear a khaki skirt. They are clean, efficient, extremely moral and work like helL.

Because the war is of primary importance to the Russians, most of them do not enjoy their stay away from it. These men moving up are happier than others I have seen back in Tabriz and in other areas. They are not romantic youths, either. They have the scars of battle and they know it is going to be tough, but they think, breathe, eat and sleep war. Even the camels seem to bend their necks forward like a man leaning into the wind, as if there is an urgency known to them. The only lazy thing around is the dust settling into the valley, and soon the rain will whip it away and the snows cover it and then all will be urgent.