The present war, declares the Nazi party organ, the Voelkischer Beobachter, finds “the two strongest military powers in the world” opposing each other. Time, therefore, in the present opinion of German editors, is an element that can well be considerable in a campaign being fought over so extensive an area as the Russian theatre.
Spires of the Kremlin are silhouetted by a Luftwaffe flair during a German air attack on Moscow in 1941.
Chapter 8
“AIM OF PRESIDENT IS WAR”
August–November 1941
As the crisis in Russia and in the Atlantic deepened, the chances of keeping the United States out of the conflict seemed slim. American public opinion on the issue, however, remained divided. When a survey of all the nation’s newspaper publishers and editors was conducted to find out their views on immediate war, the 871 replies were two to one against U.S. entry.
Roosevelt edged closer to belligerency when on August 9, at Placentia Bay in Newfoundland, aboard the American cruiser Augusta, he met Churchill face-to-face to discuss the future of the war. The press were held at bay until the public announcement on August 14 of a communiqué from the historic meeting, which has been known ever since as the Atlantic Charter. The two leaders pledged their countries to reestablish democracy and national self-determination throughout the war zones. No formal military commitment was made by the United States, but it was plain for all the world to see that Roosevelt had thrown his political and moral weight behind the efforts of the Allied powers. Hitler reacted angrily to the announcement and assumed that American intervention was only a matter of time. The Japanese poured scorn on a statement that challenged their right to an Asian empire. Churchill was glad they had forged the joint agreement but he doubted whether it would mean immediate American entry into the war.
On the other side of the world, the vast contest in the Soviet Union, along a front of a thousand miles, grew fiercer as the Red Army battled to keep the enemy away from the Russian heartland. By September, Leningrad was surrounded, but not captured. A siege began that was to see the death of up to a million people over the following two years. The war news from both sides presented as rosy a picture as possible, but there was no disguising the slow Soviet retreat. On September 19 Kiev surrendered to the Germans and Soviet forces suffered 527,000 casualties. On September 30 Hitler launched Operation Typhoon, aimed at capturing Moscow, the Soviet capital. The Soviet government left the city to go to Kuibyshev, farther east, to safety. Hitler flew to Berlin where he boasted before an ecstatic crowd that the Soviet dragon was slain and would never rise again.
The Nazi regime was already planning to ship German Jews to the East, where, unbeknownst to most people in the West, hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jewish men, women and children had already been killed by SS murder squads. The German high command thought there were few Soviet reserves left and expected Stalin to sue for peace, as the French had done in 1940, so that the harsh racial empire could be built. But the winter was approaching and time, as Hanson Baldwin wrote in The Times, was a key factor in war.
For the United States the greater crisis remained in the Pacific. The Times reported on September 21 that negotiations between the Americans and the Japanese were at “a virtual standstill.” The British continued to express confidence in their major base at Singapore as a barrier to sudden Japanese expansion, but the news from Asia had a new edge of menace to it. The isolationists remained committed to American neutrality and continued to condemn Roosevelt’s foreign policy, though with Japan there was little hope of rational compromise.
In late September Senator Gerald Nye announced at a dinner of the Steuben Society, a group of American citizens of German heritage, that the “aim of the President is war.” Outside, protesters gathered bearing placards that read, “Der Fuehrer thanks you for your many services!” The news of German success continued to pour in from the Russian steppes to the gray seas of the Atlantic. The Times’s tone was unmistakable: “U-Boats Roam Sea with a New Fury”; “Germans Smash On.” But the crisis was to come not from Europe but thousands of miles away in the central Pacific.
AUGUST 1, 1941
NEWSPAPERS OPPOSE OUR ENTRY INTO WAR
2 to 1 Against It, A Survey by Editor and Publisher Shows
The daily newspapers of the country in a proportion of more than two to one oppose immediate participation by the United States in the war, it was announced yesterday by Editor and Publisher as a result of a survey made by the magazine that will be published in its issue tomorrow.
A questionnaire was sent to the 1,878 dailies listed in the magazine’s international year book, and 871 replies were received. Of these, 615 opposed active military and naval participation, 250 favored such action and the rest failed to reply. The magazine commented that the survey demonstrated that “the majority of editors are opposed to United States participation in a European war, now or in the future, assuming the continuance of the present situation of the United States in relation to the warring nations.”
“However, there is no doubt but that this opinion would change overnight following an overt act on the part of any of the Axis powers,” it continued.
A majority of editors also held, the survey showed, that the United States, in its own strategic interests, should seize bases owned by foreign powers. Majorities also favored Federal laws regulating commodity prices and compelling arbitration in labor disputes.
AUGUST 7, 1941
NAZIS DEPICT HAVOC
Claim 895,000 Prisoners and Vast Materiel in ‘Destructive’ Feats
By C. BROOKS PETERS
By Telephone to The New York Times.
BERLIN, Aug. 6—After weeks of almost absolute silence on the course of the invasion of Russia, the Supreme Command of the German armed forces released at noon today a series of special communiqués, partly recapitulating the results of the operations on the Eastern Front from the break through the Stalin Line announced on July 12 up to the present.
Aside from reporting on the total losses in men and equipment suffered by the Soviet since the invasion began on June 22, however, today’s series of announcements added little to the information previously revealed about the present positions of the opposing armies. Moreover, they neither asserted, as did the special announcement released on July 2, that another “decision of world political import” had been forced, nor implied that the definite defeat of the Russian Army was imminent.
Russian prisoners in one of the first German concentration camps in Soviet territory, July 1941.
The German Claims and Russian Counter-Claims: In a series of special communiques yesterday the Nazi High Command reported in the progress of its drives for Leningrad, Moscow and Kiev. Arrows indicate the extent of the advances credited to the German spearheads; numbered squares show where the Russians claim to be fighting. In their drives for Leningrad (1) the Nazis say they have pierced the Stalin Line, captured Pskov, Porkhov and Kholm and pushed north up both sides of Lake Peipus; the Russians report they are standing firm in Northern Estonia (5), counter-attacking near Porkhov (6) and beating off Nazi assaults around Kholm (7). The Germans say the battle of Smolensk (2) has been victoriously concluded; the Russians assert they still hold Smolensk and are counter-attacking from Orsha to Dorogobuzh (8). On the Kiev front (3), according to the Nazis, they are successfully continuing a battle of encirclement; Moscow, however, says Nazi spearheads at Korosten and Byelaya Tserkov (9) have been smashed. In the far south (4), Berlin declares, German and Rumanian troops have reconquered all Bessarabia and pushed northeast across the central Dniester to join the forces from the north.
Since June 22, the Germans declared, the Russians have suffered the following losses in man power and materiel captured or destroyed: 895,000 prisoners, 13,145 tanks, 10,388 pieces of artillery and 9,082 planes. The number of Soviet killed or wounded is officially said to be “many times” the number captured, but authoritative military quarters refused to explain whether that meant more than twice the number captu
red.
Informed German quarters, however, estimated that between 2,500,000 and 3,00,000 Russians have been killed or wounded. Thus the total loss in effectives is estimated here to be between 3,500,000 and 4,000,000.
The Russian census figure of 1939 gives the total population of the U.S.S.R.—without the annexed Finnish, Baltic and southeastern territories—at around 170,000,000. Allowing three divisions for each million of the population, the Russians may have some 510 divisions. If each division totals 25,000 men, the total Soviet force would be 12,750,000. Other neutral sources have estimated the Russian military potential at 17,500,000 men.
Therefore, if the Red Army losses are already between 3,500,000 and 4,000,000, this would be between one-fifth and one-third of the total strength in manpower. Conservative informed German quarters, however, declare merely that most of the Russian forces that had been deployed at the outbreak of hostilities have been defeated. Step by step, they add, the Russians are approaching destruction.
SILENT ON GERMAN LOSSES
The Germans did not make a single reference to their own losses on the Eastern Front. In recapitulating the double battle of Bialystok and Minsk they asserted that their losses were “happily small.” Informed quarters declared that, “relative to enemy casualties, Reich losses were small.”
The last of today’s series of announcements asserted that several factors had made it possible that the “tremendously armed Soviet forces could be beaten.” This is interpreted to refer to the forces already defeated and not to the entire Russian armed forces. The Supreme Command declared that a new phase of the operations had begun.
Particularly interesting is the statement that it has been possible for the Germans to restore rail connections in the territory occupied. They declare the rail system is functioning to its full extent almost as far as the fighting zones.
The five communiqués were read in unbroken succession over a national hook-up. The introduction admitted that the German population had misinterpreted the long silence of the Supreme Command. But, it added, this had been necessary because the Russians’ communications did not give them an accurate picture of the fighting front. Now, however, the “just” wish of the German people to be informed daily of the newest developments could be fulfilled.
AUGUST 14, 1941
NEW ‘DUNKERQUE’ IS SEEN AT ODESSA
ALL FRONTS UNDER STTACK
By C. BROOKS PETERS
By Telephone to The New York Times.
BERLIN, Aug. 13—According to official German reports, the German armed forces are successfully attacking on all fronts in the Russian theatre of war, including the sector east of Kiev, and are making particularly rapid headway in the Southern Ukraine.
There German and allied motorized units and infantry divisions are said to be still pursuing Soviet forces that are retreating southward. The Russians are being pushed into their Black Sea ports, the Germans declare, and thus may be trapped with that body of water at their backs and no possibility of escape eastward across the Dnieper River.
According to German reports, it begins to appear probable that sizable Soviet forces may face a new Dunkerque between Odessa and Ochakov—that is, be barred from all save sea lines of escape. To what extent the Russian Black Sea Fleet and air force will be able to evacuate troops from harbors in the Southern Ukraine may be seen within the next few days, it is remarked here.
TOLL ON SHIPPING CLAIMED
In fact, informed Berlin quarters declare the pressure on the Russians in this sector already is so great that the Soviet command is trying to evacuate forces trapped in Odessa and ship them to the Crimea. According to these quarters, the German Air Force has taken measures to hinder this evacuation and has sunk 22,100 tons of transport shipping and two destroyers in this region, in addition to damaging a vessel of 4,000 tons.
The Russians, it is said, have begun to use lighters to evacuate their forces. This, informed quarters add, suggests another Dunkerque, but they express doubt that the Russians are able to effect as successful a retreat as the British did across the English Channel last year.
The retreat southward in the Ukraine appears to be general, according to German reports. The only engagements mentioned are with rearguard units that are trying to slow down the German pursuit sufficiently to enable the Soviet units to retire in order. In these encounters, the Germans officially declare, the Russians are suffering heavy losses in men and equipment.
Today, according to the official news agency D.N.B., the attacks of the German air arm were directed chiefly and with particular intensity against “crossings” over the southern reaches of the Dnieper. These “crossings” are said to be jammed because of the size of the forces trying to escape.
GERMAN BOMBERS ACTIVE
In the southern sector German bombers are credited with having destroyed yesterday 240 motor vehicles, eight tanks, two armored trains and stretches of railway. Along the entire front the Germans claim to have destroyed 184 planes, 121 in dogfights and sixty-three on the ground, with the loss of only three of their own planes.
In the center of the Eastern Front the Germans report that encircled Soviet units frantically attempted yesterday to escape from the pocket in which they are held. No indication is given of the present geographical stand in this sector, but the Germans declare the Russians suffered heavy losses there yesterday.
In the north, the Germans assert, bombs from their planes destroyed various stretches of the Leningrad-Moscow railway. In the same sector attacks are said to have been repulsed with the loss of eighteen Russian tanks. Counterattacks by the Germans are reported to have been successful and ten additional tanks and thirty-two pieces of artillery are said to have been destroyed.
South of Lake Ilmen the 103d Russian Infantry Regiment is said to have been encircled and, except for a few prisoners, annihilated.
AUGUST 15, 1941
The Official Statement
By The United Press.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 14—The text of the official statement on the Roosevelt-Churchill meeting follows:
The President of the United States and the Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill, representing His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom, have met at sea.
They have been accompanied by officials of their two governments, including high-ranking officers of their military, naval and air services.
The whole problem of the supply of munitions of war, as provided by the Lease-Lend Act, for the armed forces of the United States and for those countries actively engaged in resisting aggression has been further examined.
Lord Beaverbrook, the Minister of Supply of the British Government, has joined in these conferences. He is going to proceed to Washington to discuss further details with appropriate officials of the United States Government. These conferences will also cover the supply problems of the Soviet Union.
President Roosevelt, left, with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill aboard the HMS Prince of Wales, during their Atlantic Meeting in August 1941.
The President and the Prime Minister have had several conferences. They have considered the dangers to world civilization arising from the policies of military domination by conquest upon which the Hitlerite government of Germany and other governments associated therewith have embarked, and have made clear the steps which their countries are respectively taking for their safety in the face of these dangers.
They have agreed upon the following joint declaration:
The President of the United States of America and the Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill, representing His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom, being met together, deem it right to make known certain common principles in the national policies of their respective countries on which they base their hopes for a better future for the world.
FIRST, their countries seek no aggrandizement, territorial or other;
SECOND, they desire to see no territorial changes that do not accord with the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned;
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bsp; THIRD, they respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live; and they wish to see sovereign rights and self-government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them;
FOURTH, they will endeavor, with due respect for their existing obligations, to further the enjoyment by all States, great or small, victor or vanquished, of access, on equal terms, to the trade and to the raw materials of the world which are needed for their economic prosperity;
FIFTH, they desire to bring about the fullest collaboration between all nations in the economic field with the object of securing, for all, improved labor standards, economic adjustment and social security;
SIXTH, after the final destruction of the Nazi tyranny, they hope to see established a peace which will afford to all nations the means of dwelling in safety within their own boundaries, and which will afford assurance that all the men in all the lands may live out their lives in freedom from fear and want;
SEVENTH, such a peace should enable all men to traverse the high seas and oceans without hindrance;
EIGHTH, they believe that all of the nations of the world, for realistic as well as spiritual reasons, must come to the abandonment of the use of force. Since no future peace can be maintained if land, sea or air armaments continue to be employed by nations which threaten, or may threaten, aggression outside of their frontiers, they believe, pending the establishment of a wider and permanent system of general security, that the disarmament of such nations is essential. They will likewise aid and encourage all other practicable measures which will lighten for peace-loving peoples the crushing burden of armaments.
The New York Times Book of World War II, 1939-1945 Page 53
