Fetant to admit the bank-
, their world outlook.

» Jonger the war dragged
®imore hopeless the war
mi became and the more
| did the continuation of
‘appear, the broader be-
"; circles of soldiers and
Bywho arrived at the real-
fhat it could not go on
jonger. More and more
fegan to understand that
™ not the time =nor the
» party disputes, and that
aside from the front of
B against Hitlerism was to
gir Own people. The rea-
yirew ever stronger that
' unification of all the
moeople into a solid, pow-
tnt of struggle against
uld still avert a national
the for Germany.

sosition which the active
zainst Hitler encountered
* War prisoners was wan-

of them began to un-
¢ hat the pretexts of de-
} and doubt would be tan-
9 involuntary complicity
hes perpetrated by Hitler
» German people and the
b= other countries.

the ofticers this process
pr than among the so}-
infrequently the officers
jlong realized the neces-
tive struggle against Hit-
p boycotted by the other
st was even harder to
hut an understanding be-
' War prisoners and us
pmigres residing in the
tt it was a matter of
jmmany, and this consid-
»2 over all contradictions.
f} had come to create the
all-inclusive national
fil honest Germans for
hr the immediate termin-
ithe war for the over-
| itler and his regime and
= the foundations for the
Hat of a free, democratic
free from domestic and
very. Our front was ex-
tad the conviction was
at it was time to prove
ld that the German peo-
t warrant identification
*, and that this must no
delayed.

v that the more Hitler
miangled, the sgsreater
his fury, and that he
w the last German into
on of war in order to
us own doom. Just as
ad he had sacrificed a
a million Germans, he
hesitate to sacrifice the
man people.

serman people want to
ve they can only by
end to Hitler, who for
interests of the capital-
banked no more and

no less than the life, freedom and

honor of the German nation.

This truth was finally Griven
home. The decision matured and
only the impulse was necessary for
it to crystallize. This impact was
given by the groups of initiators
formed among the soldiers and of-
ficers in several camps for -war
prisoners.

They addresssd an appeal to
the German emigres in Moscow
for the joint formation of a_com-
mission to prepare the founda-
tion of a national committee
which would undertake the or-
Qanization and leadership of this
manifestly growing national
movement,

The preparatory commission im-
mediately sent out a call to the
prisoners in all eamps. Thousands
of war prisoners in all the camps
voiced their approval and demand-
ed the immediate convention of a
conference for the foundation of a
national committee. In a few weeks
it proved possible to convene in
Moscow delegates from the war
prisoners’ camp to take this de-
cisive step.

The conference revealed full una-
himity with regard to aim—ridding
Germany of Hitler—and\the means
fo achieve this aim.

An important, historic Step has
been taken. What only a short time
ago seemed impossible has hap-
pened—the unification of Germans
of all classes and convictions into
a united national froni of struggle
for the liberation of Germany from
the Hitler yoke.

The National Committee, rep-
resenting all social stratas of Ger-
many and all political and re-
ligfous convicitions, is authorized
to speak on behalf of all German
people whose aspirations it ex-
Presses. And when the _ spirit
which Inspired this conference
awakens all the German people,
German arms will be turned not
against other peoples but against
the enemy at home, against Hitler
and his henchmen. In this strug-
gle the German people will win
their own freedom and the re—=
spect of all peoples.

In the last few weeks, some news
about the growing activities of the
German undergreund has been re-
vealed—inadvertently through Nazi
sources. Not iong ago a few Nazi
Papers Carried reports about a spe-
Cial court session of the first de-
partment of the Leipzig Voiksger-
ichtshof (Court of the People). The
whole court had iravelled from
Leipzig to Klagenurtfh, capital of
Carinthia in Austria. On trial were
“members of a guerrilla band and
their helpers.” Many of the guerril-
Ias had Sloyene names but there
were. defendents with German
names, too, charged as “army de-
serters and communists.”

ting outpost somewhere in China, a Chinese rifleman
an’ lieutenant man their guns after giving the alarm
1 US. airfield that a Japanese raiding party is ap-
sut. W. E. Burch, of Denver, Colo.

The Red Army Has
Reached Maturity

By ILYA EHRENBURG

MOSCOW.

JA STORss studying the annals cf this terrible war will be amazed to learn that in

the third year of fighting the Red Army attained maturity. Usually armies wear
out in war. Whence this increased strength of the Red Army? Are not our people tired
atter two years of violent battles? Have we not sustained heavy losses?

our country and our army. But we also know that today

We know the wounds of

We are stronger than the Ger-
mans. We have them on the run
in the summer, although the
summer is considered the sea-
son of the Germans.

We are stronger than the Ger-
mans not only because we have
routed them. We are stronger
than the Germans also because
every Red Army man and com-
mander has grown. Slxill has
been combined with sel& pos-
session. Today our army is an
army of an entire people at war.

The Fritiz called up to the
colors in the spring of 1943 is 4
burgher dressed in a greenish-
grey uniform. The veteran Fritz
who has survived since the be-
ginning of the war is a neuras-
thenie. Germany is one- huge
barracks. .

The Germans embarked on
War” after long, methodical
preparations. They improved
their military skill in easy cam-
Paigns. When they encountered
a rebuff from the Red Army
they lost their taste for war.

We are a peaceful nation.
We did not choose war; it was
thrust on us by the invaders.
We began to learn immedi-
ately in the grimmest days.
Events threw us into the war
without a life belt. We had to
learn to fight in years of
mortal danger. And now we
have real soldiers before us.

©f course, after the victory.
they will return to peaceful
labor, although now they seem
to me more the soldier than all
trained soldiers ever appeared.

METANIN, a scout, is 20
years old. Prior to the war
he was a coachman. The war
brought tragedy into his life—
beth his father and older
brother were killed on the front.
The art of reconnaissance did
not come to him at once. He
was not born intrepid. He
acquired this quality in action.
On one occasion the lad re-
turned from an assignment
dragging a German boxer. He
does not strut around boasting
of it. He admits that at times
when the Germans start their
bombing he feels pretty scared,
but never when he is out recon-
noitering. He loves his work,
which has won him government
orders and medals.

Six scouts, among them Sme-
tanin, were moving through
a forest headed by Junior
Lieutenant Shishkin. In the dis-
tanee they espied German tanks
in a glade with their crews sit-
fing around them. Just recall
the days gone by when a whole
company would sometimes run
away from one tank. ._.

The six scouts ran up to the
tankmen and opened fire from
their tommyguns. Part of the
tank erews were killed: the rest
of the Germans fled. Two of the
Red Army men knew how to
handle the tanks, two of which
they drove into the village,
while the rest were run into a
ravine to get them out of Ger-

Iman reach. The six scouts cap-
lured three ‘“T-4” tanks, one
“T-3” and a self-propelled gun.

You may think this accidental,
an episode. Not at all. Two
years ago it would have been an
episode, whereas today it is a
daily occurrence in the offen-
Sive,

KNOW that Gen Guderian

(Nazi tank expert) exists,
that there are Tiger tanks and
Ferdinands, self-propelled guns.
But the six scouts who did not
take iright at five tanks were
not accidental, just as the case
of the anti-tank rifleman Rodio-
nov was not accidental.

When 15 German tanks moved
towards him, Rodionov set four
of them ablaze, while the rest
turned tail. It may be said that
Rodionoy is a hero. It also can
be said that he is a Red Army
man, a Russian soldier of 1943.

“I hate them” are the words
I have often heard before about
the Germans; but I could not
conceal my joy upon hearing the
words of Junior Lieutenant Ion_
syan—‘I hate and despise them.”

On the first day of the offen-
Sive lonsyan saw the charred
body of a Red Army man tied
to a tree ina liberated village.
This can arouse hatred and
scorn. Ionsyan is 39 years old.
He hails from Baku where he
Was a most peaceable person.
jonsyan learned to translate
his hatred and scorn into the
language of fire.

In company with another eight
tommygunners he killed 38
Fritzes when they encountered
a detachment. While operating
behind the enemy lines they
accounted for 70 more Germans
ane took 18 prisoners. They
captured five gums, big food-
stores and ammunition dumps.

“I despise them,” reiterates
lonsyan. He despises them for
everything—for torturing pris-
oners, for having ruined Eur-
ope while boasting about their
strength, and because 126 “in-
vincible” Fritzes quailed under
the blow of nine Red Army
men.

Tonsyan is an Armenian. On
the soil of Orel, in the heart of
Russia, the sons of all Soviet
nationalities are fighting. In
fonsyan’s platoon the Uzbek
Galar Igmarbardyey has dis-
tinguished himself in action.
When he was encircled by Ger-
mans he laid low a dozen Fritzes
with his tommysun and gren-
ades.

The Kazakh Vakhit Kilum
bayev wiped out 15 Germans.
The Russian Sergei Koshev
single-handed attacked a group
of Germans and took a German
officers and 12 soldiers pris-
oner. Junior Lieutenant Naum
Plavnik, a Jew, commanded a
platoon which captured a Ger-
man fortified village. Thirty
Germans were dispatched to
their death. Playnik accounted
for five of them. Afterwards,
together with another four men

he made his way into the enemy
rear where the five of them dis-
lodged the Germans from their
positions. The Germans lost an
officer and 20 soldiers killed.

iE THIS unity of the Soviet

people in their third year of
war lies the guarantee of our
near victory.

Germany, populated with Ger-
mans, is only beginning to crack.
The natives from Bavaria, Wur-
tenberg and Baden, taken pris-
oner, hasten to declare that they
are not Prussians,

Asserting the sole rights of
one and only one nation, the
Hitlerites divided the German
people. Valuing national mul-
tiformity, we built up Soviet
unity with the result that Ar
menians and Uzbekians shed
their blood for great Russia.

Victory in war is the result of
collective effort. There is al-
Ways one among many who leads
—the captain of the ship. In
our offensive north of Orel a
big role is being played by the

men of the rifle regiment under

Major Kharchenko. This swar-
thy, well-buili southerner is
only 39 years old, but he has
already seen and suffered much.

He is from Stalingrad. Last
autumn his old mother waited
amidst the ruins of the heroic
city for her son and Russia. The
major’s family hid from the Ger-
mans in a village. Ony a month
ago ISharchenko Jearned that
his family was safe. He had
passed through the mental
agony of hundreds of thousands
of Russians.

In the bitter October days of
1941 he was battling his way out
of German encirclement. Today
on Orel soil Major Kharchenko
is paying back the Germans for
those days. He started in the
war as a lieutenant. Prior to
fighting he was a zoologist on
a state farm. Kharchenko real-
ized that one had to know how
to fight and he learned well.

The area liberated by the Red
Army within the past two weeks
and the figures of the enemy’s
losses clearly show that our suc-
cesses were paid for at a com-
paratively low price. The power
of our armaments and the skill
of our commanders and the in=
telligenece and bravery of our
men saved thousands of lives.

The Germans continue to re-
sist desperately. Four times in
the course of one day the Ger-
mans counter-attacked on a
small sector where Major Khar-
chenko’s men are stationed, and
each time the enemy had to
Withdraw, leaying behind tens
and hundreds in killed. Our men
continue to push forward.

Formerly the Red Army men
thought that it was impossible
to advance without tanks and
artillery. Now a dozen men cap-
ture a village. Here on the main
Jineé you see a new people in
the hectic days of an offensive
—the Red Army rises before the
world in its full stature. =

se