World Battlefronts: Logistics Aloft

Air-force transport formations supplied advanced German units—German communique, Dec. 30.

Eleven transport planes were brought down in the Stalingrad area—Russian communique, Dec. 30.

Terse, official statements like these last week highlighted a vital phase of the war in Russia. For the Russian front was now, in many respects, similar to the Pacific front: the Germans were pocketed on a series of "islands," where the beleaguered armies could survive only so long as they were supplied from centers many miles away. As rail and road routes fell to the Russians and advance depots were depleted, the Germans had to depend more & more on...

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