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It was stated in military circles in London last night that there was no evidence that the Nazi High Command was attempting to retreat to prepared defence positions. It seems certain that the strength of the Russian thrust on the Moscow front had completely upset all German calculations, and that they were now being forced into rearguard actions which have become nothing more than a retreat on a big scale. In some places the German withdrawal had the appearance of a debacle. It might well be, it was stated, that history was repeating itself and the Napoleonic retreat from Moscow was to-day being re-enacted, with appalling consequences to the German armies. Another 1812? No more sensational or sweeping communiqué has been issued by the Russian High Command during the course of this war than the one received in London yesterday evening. Hitler's fanatical and crazy dream of annihilating the colossal Russian forces and of seizing Moscow, Leningrad, Rostov and the road to the Caucasus is rapidly disappearing into the same dreadful morass of defeat as met Napoleon in 1812 (a morass of blood, ice and snow filled with the frozen carcasses of fools led into an infamous trap by the world's prize idiot). The Germans appear to have suffered at Russian hands a defeat comparable almost to that which they inflicted on the Russians at Tannenberg in 1914. For nearly a month the bloodiest of struggles has been pursued with savage persistence to an end of as complete and smashing a victory as any Russian or his ally could wish for. They claim in this one operation to have destroyed or captured 1,434 tanks, 5,416 lorries, 575 guns, 119 trench mortars, 870 machineguns and aircraft in proportion. Story of Triumph They also claim that the enemy lost 85,000 men. Eight towns are said to be recaptured. This stunning victory of Stalinogorsk must go down as one of the major battles in world history. It should cause all Germany to shriek in agonised despair. An is it idle to repeat in this column the explanatory details given on our front page that make up the full extent of the latest Russian triumphs elsewhere? Everywhere on this vast front the Germans are flinching and retreating from the terrific Russian advance and attacks. The Germans, rashly aiming at encircling and occupying Moscow, have found themselves surrounded and destroyed. The sturdy troops of Stalin hardened to endure the severities of the Russian winter and treating them as though spring had arrived, are now wading knee deep in German blood, frozen to crystals on their Russian soil. Such a victory as this inspires hopes in all of us that may betray by their intensity.
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