The Russians have made gains before. They have won victories. They have scourged the German Army. But never before have they shaken the Germans' 1,500-mile battle line from end to end. Never before in World War II has the German Army been so close to disaster.
As they had done at Velikie Luki, the Russians flowed around and then into the
Nazis' second fortress at Millerovo. This week Moscow announced another victory: the long siege of Leningrad was in a fair way to be lifted; Russian troops had captured the pivotal, fortified city of Schlüsselburg, some 25 miles to the east, where the Germans based their inland line around the great Baltic port. From the Baltic to the dark and bloody ground of the Caucasus, the German Wehrmacht was in retreat.
"There is need for more German troops in Russia." The voice, rasping in German loudspeakers last week, was the voice of Lieut. General Kurt Diettmar, engineer officer and propagandist for the German High Command.
On the northern end of the front, where the Germans had held on stubbornly against subArctic weather that distressed even the acclimated Russians, the victory announced by Moscow could be of vital import. Near Schlüsselburg runs a railroad to Moscow and beyond. To the west, less than 30 miles, are more routes to the south. If these are retaken, the Russians will re-establish direct communications along their whole line.
In other days, a skeptical world might have doubted that the Russians had indeed blasted the German grip on Leningrad. Now a pattern of Russian authenticity had become familiar. In recent weeks, Germany's admissions of pivotal losses have been delayed but nonetheless complete.
Said General Diettmar:
"The Russians are far ahead of us in exploiting their manpower reserves. . . . This year their drives are more concentrated, more exhausting and more dangerous than last."
The Russians broke through again on the Don Front. They encircled Millerovo with deception and strength, then cut the Moscow-Rostov railroad at Glubokaya.
This week, they lanced through in places to the Donets River and made some crossings. Millerovo's capture was one of the major tests of whether Russia's southern offensive could break through to Rostov, linchpin of the whole German southern front. Now the Reds' chance of knocking out the linchpin looked increasingly good.
"The enemy loosed his attacks on the central front to disorganize the moves of German reserves."
On the central front, based below Voronezh and aimed roughly at the Germans' key point of Kharkov, the Russians launched another new attack. The General's diagnosis was indeed correct. From that area no reserves could be safely moved —and none could be added, because other fronts were in distress. Yet here was potentially the greatest threat of all to the integrity of the German front. The one way the Red Army can decisively smash the German position in Russia is to crash through the great lateral Smolensk-Kursk-Kharkov-Crimea railway system into relatively ill-defended positions behind it. This week the drive was still young, the results unclear. In any case it kept thousands of Germans pinned down.