740.0011 European War 1939/29912: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Standley) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 25—9:40 a.m.]
734. The Soviet press for June 22 carried a Sovinformburo30 communication covering the entire first page of the paper and entitled “Two Years of the Patriotic War of the Soviet Union”. The announcement was apparently considered to be of such importance that Pravda which now ordinarily does not appear on Tuesdays was published.
The communiqué makes the following points.
1. German military might has been undermined by Soviet resistance during 2 years of war. German successes are explained in part by unpreparedness of Allies in first year, to furnish “significant and speedy” help to the Soviets; and by the sudden and unprovoked character of German attack catching Soviets unmobilized. The absence of a second front in the summer of 1942 again permitted full German concentration on the Soviet front. The second front question is also raised in connection with the German Kharkov offensive this spring.
Losses of Germany and her Allies for the 2 years of war are given as 6,400,000 officers and men killed or captured as well as 56,000 guns, 42,000 tanks, 43,000 aircraft. Corresponding Soviet figures are 4,200,000 killed and missing, 35,000 guns, 30,000 tanks and 23,000 aircraft. As a result of Stalingrad and other defeats Germany was unable this spring to conduct offensive operations against the Red army.
The Germans having suffered a series of defeats on the Soviet front and in North Africa in recent months are now forced to talk of a “war of position”. They are driven to extreme measures in the mobilization of their own and the occupied countries manpower reserves. Their industrial production is declining. A powerful factor in this development is Allied bombing.
2. Germany’s political isolation has become pronounced. Germany’s authority among her Allies has declined, and her attempts to split the anti-Hitler coalition have failed.
3. The Red army’s strength has grown while that of the German Army has been declining. The section making this point declares that Soviet industry is producing “all that it, the army, needs”.
4. The international position of the Soviet Union is firmer than ever and the “fighting unity” of the USSR, England and the U.S.A. has been strengthened.
[Page 549]Hitler-Germany’s attempts to destroy this unity have collapsed. Regarding the Anglo-Soviet treaty the communiqué states that under war conditions a year is a long enough period to test the viability of a treaty.
“Experience has shown that during this period our relations with England under the alliance have improved.”
The Soviet-American Lend-Lease Agreement has “in full measure” proven itself. “Our Allies” are furnishing ever increasing aid in munitions and supplies. In this connection the Allied North African efforts and their European bombing operations are referred to again. At the same time reference is made to the “immeasurable” aid being rendered by the Soviet Union to Allies by its binding of 200 German and 30 other Axis divisions on the Soviet front.
5. The second front question is the focus of the communiqué’s final section which states that “everything now depends upon how our Allies utilize the favorable conditions for the establishment of a second front on the European Continent for without a second front, victory over Hitlerite Germany is impossible”.
In conclusion the communiqué expresses the hope that what happened in 1942 when the absence of a second front saved Germany will not recur. Failure to establish a second front would mean millions of casualties; its creation would lead to a speedy conclusion of the war.
- Soviet Information Bureau.↩