South Yorkshire Times – Saturday 13 June 1942

Year Of Destiny

The crescendo of war is not mounting as rapidly this year as was generally expected. Important battles have been fought, but the opposing sides are not yet locked in that death grip which is almost certain to mark 1942 as a year of destiny.

Preliminary sparring has taken place, but the supreme onslaught of our enemies, anticipated in the Spring, still hangs Are. Accustomed to the tactic of the blitzkrieg we have looked for a lightning offensive developing maximum weight in minimum time and seeking to crush opposition by sheer violence and weight of metal. But the day of the blitzkrieg is over; at least in the sense in which Poland, Norway, the Low Countries, and France were smitten by it. There are no more lands ripe for conquest by treachery from within and overwhelming force from without. It is for this reason that Hitler’s designs now unfold themselves more ponderously, and he seeks to secure limited objectives before the massive machine of the Reichswehr clanks into top gear.

Pointing at the heart of the Caucasus the Kerch Peninsula is one of these objectives, but it is an asset which cannot be fully realised without the subjection of Sebastopol. There the Russians show no signs of yielding, and much hangs on their tenacity, as it does on their power to withstand the groping tentacles which seek a final stranglehold on Leningrad, with the cutting of the Murmansk supply line as a vital secondary aim.

If Germany can get forward on the flanks of her immense Eastern line she will have gone far towards achieving her designs, but the high command of the Red Army has shown such a keen perception of the significance of each fresh threat that it is likely that there will be. several false starts before the German juggernaut gets into its stride. The Russians are adept at the spoiling tactics which upset their adversary so