(See Cover)
A German crouched behind a tree peering across at the Russians. He was in uniform, but he had no gun. He was talking excitedly into a field telephone, but he was not communicating with headquarters.
He was one of Herr Dr. Goebbels' propaganda boys, selling the home folks another war.
His voice was elated, but it was also as genteel as if he were describing the tennis matches at the Red-White Club in Berlin. "It is a fine summer morning," he said, "and the action here is wonderful."
He told how the German machine had swept into action at 3:05 a.m., the planes going forward to wake the enemy to death, then the pioneers creeping forward to do little engineering tricks, then the full German mechanized weight, noisy, swift, flaming, reaching out to crush and sear the great unknown weight across the way.
At this moment the unit he was covering somewhere along the 3,000-mile front was about to storm a section of Russian defenses—tank traps, blockhouses, a barracks. The announcer said: "The Russian fire is not enough to hold up our infantry. [Chatter of machine guns; bombs falling.] Light machine guns are now going forward. The bunker over there still answers. It is not made of concrete, but of logs. The Russians are coming forward now [staccato of rifles] but naturally they are stopped. Again we see our infantry going ahead. . . . The bunker is ours. Apparently the first Russian prisoners are in our hands. . . ."
The voice became more excited. "I can see the German soldiers within the barracks.
"IT'S TAKEN!"
What Chances? Thus, with every detail worked out, even to the designation of the trees behind which broadcasters should crouch, the veteran German Army took on its hugest job. Though bigger potential armies (10,000,000 Russians, 9,000,000 Germans) had never fought on a bigger potential front, the weathered Germans began fighting Russia just as they had opened against all the other opponents, with apparent calm, with obvious savvy.
They opened with blows which had become familiar even to the civilians of the world. The airmen executed "rolling attacks" on Russian concentrations, matériel dumps, communications. Other bombers Blitzed cities (see map, p. 24). The tricks and the gadgets were all used: fog screens, pontoons, tanks, parachutes, flares, flamethrowers, motorcycles, tommy guns. Pioneers exploded casemates with experienced precision. Engineers built bridges where they were needed. Infantry advanced fluidly.
The initial success was familiar: Ten miles here & there the first day, minor break-throughs at many points on the second. The initial taciturnity of the High Command rang true: "Operations are proceeding satisfactorily and according to plan." The initial preposterousness of such German "unofficial sources" as D.N.B. was the same as ever: it was claimed that 1,200 Russian planes were destroyed in the first two days.
But in spite of having seen all these signs before, every German soldier must have known as he went into battle that nothing is certain about war save uncertainty.