Word: konev
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Barrier Breaching. In Bessarabia last week the air was thick with the aroma of apple blossoms and Marshal Ivan Konev was there to enjoy it. Even more he could enjoy the knowledge that his was the major credit for breaking through one compartment after another of the Ger man defenses...
...probably done as well as could be expected, since his way lay across the broad estuaries of the big rivers. Marshal Zhukov, at the northern end of the Ukrainian front, had done very well by breaking through with heavy concentrations of guns and tanks into Bucovina. But Konev, in the center, had pushed farthest. He had already crossed the Bug and the Dniester. This week his army held a 50-mile front along the sandy Prut river, nowhere wider than 300 yards...
...much as a man could be, Konev was responsible for this miracle of a great offensive at mud-time. He produced it by turning to foot, man, and tank-power, by keeping his men on grueling marches few other armies could survive. His officers scoff: "The Fritzies are lost without their trucks; they want to ride-whether forward or backward...
...Konev used his tanks both to fight and to transport. His favorite tank is the adaptable T-34, with its broad treads, high belly clearance, a reinforced axle. Its German counterpart, Mark V, or Panther, often bogs down in the mud and breaks its axle. The Red tanks carry Tommy gun crews, equipment and fuel barrels strapped to the side. They also tow caravans of mud sledges, loaded high with food and ammunition...
Where possible, Konev uses Studebaker trucks, for whose six wheels, four gears and sturdiness Red officers profess high regard. Artillery is hauled by tractors, men, and small, shaggy Siberian ponies, which need amazingly little food and rest. U.S. jeeps do the rest, because the Russians have found them marvelous mud buggies...