Comrade Stalin's remarks carry immense significance.

They not only serve to strengthen the conviction of victory among the people of the Allied nations, but are also of great benefit to the unity of the Allies and the great cause of defeating fascism. Opening a genuine second front would be tantamount to pronouncing Hitler's death sentence. This is a bounden duty of the Allies and, compared with material aid to the Soviet Union, a duty of the first order that is even more important.

As far as timing is concerned, now is the best moment to open the second front. If such an opportunity is missed, it could prove to be the gravest strategic blunder on the part of the Allies. The timely opening of the second front by the Allies holds the key to victory.

— The World.
二 — The World.

This Battle of Stalingrad has been compared by the British and American press to the Battle of Verdun, and the name “Red Verdun” has spread throughout the world. World War I ended in the winter of 1918. In that year, the German forces launched several attacks on the French fortress of Verdun. The commander of the German campaign at that time was the German Crown Prince, and the forces committed to battle were the most elite units of the German army. The fighting then was of a decisive character. The German offensive failed to break through, and the entire German-Austrian-Turkish-Bulgarian front could no longer find a way out. From then on, their situation grew increasingly difficult; they were beset by internal dissent and external isolation, disintegrated, and finally collapsed completely.

However, at that time, the British, American, and French side on the front had not yet recognized this nature of the struggle. They still believed the German army to be extremely powerful, unaware that their victory was already before them. In every stage of the history of human civilization, the reactionary forces on the verge of extinction always launch a final desperate struggle against the revolutionary forces. And the revolutionary people are often, for a period, deceived by these outwardly formidable but inwardly brittle phenomena, failing to see the reality that the enemy is about to perish and their own victory is imminent. The rise of the entire fascist force and its years of aggressive war are precisely the manifestation of this final desperate struggle. And during the war, the attack on this “Red Verdun” served to express its own death throes.

At this turning point in history, many people within the anti-fascist front worldwide have also been deceived by fascism’s ferocious countenance, unable to see its true essence. From August 23rd, when the entire German army crossed the bend of the Don River and launched a full-scale attack on Stalingrad, to October 9th, when the Soviet Information Bureau announced that the Red Army had broken through the German encirclement line in the city’s northwestern industrial district—a total of forty-eight days of an unprecedentedly bitter struggle unparalleled in human history—this battle has indeed been won. During these forty-eight days, news of victory or defeat in this city each day closely gripped the breath of countless millions upon millions of people, causing them sorrow and bringing them joy.

This battle marks the turning point not only of the Soviet-German war, nor even merely of the present world anti-fascist war, but a turning point in the entire history of mankind. During these forty-eight days, the attention of the world’s people fixed upon Stalingrad, matching, if not surpassing, the degree of concern with which they watched Moscow in October of last year.

Before his victories on the Western Front, Hitler had been cautious. In attacking Poland, attacking Norway, attacking the Low Countries and France, and attacking the Balkans, he concentrated his full force on one target at a time, not daring to divert his attention elsewhere. After his victories on the Western Front, however, his mind became clouded by arrogance, and he attempted to defeat the Soviet Union within three months. From Murmansk in the north to Crimea in the south, he launched an all-out offensive against this vast and staunch socialist state, thereby dispersing his forces. The failure of the offensive against Moscow last October marked the end of the first stage of the Soviet-German war; Hitler’s first strategic plan had gone bankrupt.

During the first stage, Hitler still held many military advantages, while the Red Army suffered from numerous disadvantages. Among these disadvantages was a lack of proficiency in the techniques of warfare, which resulted in rather heavy casualties for the Red Army at that time. However, the Red Army succeeded in stopping the German offensive on the approaches to Moscow, forcing a retreat, and over the winter seized the initiative by striking at the German forces. During this period, although the Soviet Union drew part of its troops from the Far East—forces that were not particularly large in number—it exercised the utmost restraint in the south to avoid a two-front war, while on the central front it concentrated on defensive operations. At that point, Hitler recognized the situation: the attempt to capture Moscow, Leningrad, and Stalingrad all at once was a strategic error. After his plan to take Stalingrad came to a halt in the fierce battles there, he shifted the bulk of his forces southward toward the Caucasus, seeking a decisive engagement to seize the Baku oilfields and cut off the Soviet Union’s oil supply. He hoped to defeat the Soviet Union in this way, then extract German forces for transfer to the Western Front to meet the Anglo-American offensive. At the same time, he could obtain access to Near Eastern resources, establish a link between Germany and Japan, and free the main Japanese forces from their northern concerns so they could advance westward and southward against China and the Anglo-American powers without having to worry about their rear—thus striving for victory for the fascist front.

But what was the situation during this stage? Hitler encountered a strategy from the Soviet Union that was deadly to him. The Soviet Union adopted a policy of first luring the enemy deep into its territory, followed by a course of tenacious resistance. Five months of war saw the German army fail to penetrate the Caucasus oilfields, nor could it take Stalingrad, forcing Hitler to halt his troops beneath high mountains and before a fortified city—unable to advance, unable to withdraw—suffering enormous losses and bogged down in a stalemate. The great victory of the Red Army—now it is October, winter is approaching, the third stage of the war is about to conclude, and the fourth stage is about to begin. Hitler’s strategic objectives remain utterly unfulfilled.

During this period, Hitler, mindful of his failure the previous summer to divide his forces, concentrated his strength on the southern line. Yet he still sought to cut the Volga in the east and take the Caucasus in the south, trying to achieve two objectives in one stroke—thus still dispersing his forces. He failed to calculate the disparity between his strength and his ambitions, with the result that, as the saying goes, “A load carried on a shoulder pole without fastening spills at both ends.” He has now blundered into an impasse. He has only this one year left (the second front has not yet been opened); beyond this, there will be no more time for him.

In contrast, the strategic objectives of the Soviet Union, Britain, and the United States are drawing near. To wear down Hitler and open the second front, then attack him from both east and west and annihilate him—that is the strategic aim of the Soviet Union and the Allies in Europe. During this period, the Red Army’s fighting has not only worn down Hitler, but also bought time for the opening of the second front. Without this attrition of the German army and the time thus gained, the defeat of fascism would be impossible. Meanwhile, the Red Army’s growing skill in tactics has greatly reduced its own losses. The fact that in five months even a braggart like Goebbels has failed to trumpet any significant captures from the Red Army is proof of this. The fourth stage, beginning this winter, will be the stage in which Hitler marches toward his doom.

Compare Hitler’s situation during the first stage with that of the third stage, and it becomes clear that Hitler now stands at the threshold of final defeat. From the day Hitler’s offensive began on June 22nd last year until the Red Army recovered Rostov on November 30th—five months and eight days in all—the German army had not achieved its strategic objectives, yet it had conducted such an all-out offensive and seized so vast an expanse of territory. But from November of last year to the present, over ten months, the German army has been confined to the triangle formed by Kharkov, the northern foothills of the Caucasus, and the outskirts of Stalingrad. It has suffered the defeats of the first winter and has been forced to disgorge a portion of territory on the central front that the Red Army recaptured. At present, the Red Army in both the Stalingrad and Caucasus sectors has virtually halted the German offensive. Hitler’s strength is now exhausted after repeated blows; his attacks on both Stalingrad and the Caucasus have failed. The limited forces he managed to assemble during the entire winter from November last year to May this year have been depleted. On the Soviet-German front, with winter less than a month away, he must hasten to switch to the defensive. The entire area west and south of the Don River is the most dangerous zone for him, and the Red Army will launch a counteroffensive there. This winter, driven by impending doom, Hitler will once more try to reorganize his army. He may perhaps scrape together some remnants of his strength to equip a few new divisions, and beyond that, he will beg for help from Italy, Hungary, and Romania, extorting some cannon fodder from them to meet the crisis on both the eastern and western fronts. However, on the Eastern Front he must cope with the enormous drain of a winter campaign, while on the Western Front he must prepare to face the second front. And Italy, Hungary, Romania, and the other countries, gripped by a growing sense of pessimism as Hitler’s cause goes into irreversible decline, will become increasingly alienated from him day by day. In short, after October 9th, there is nothing left for Hitler but a path to ruin.

During these forty-eight days, the defense of the city of Stalin by the Red Army bore a certain resemblance to the defense of Moscow last year. That is to say, it caused Hitler’s plan for this year to end in failure, just as his plan for last year did. The difference, however, is that after the defense of Moscow, although a winter counteroffensive followed, the Red Army still had to face a German summer offensive this year. This was because, on the one hand, Germany and its European partners could still summon some remaining courage, and on the other, because Britain and the United States delayed the opening of the second front. But after the defense of Stalingrad, the situation will be entirely different from last year. On one side, there will be a massive second winter counteroffensive by the Soviet Union, and any delay by Britain and the United States in opening the second front will no longer be tolerated (though the exact timing still cannot be calculated), while the peoples of Europe will be eagerly awaiting to rise in response. On the other side, Germany and its European partners will no longer be capable of mounting large-scale offensives, and Hitler will have no choice but to shift his entire strategy to the defensive. Once Hitler is forced onto the strategic defensive, the fate of fascism is effectively sealed. For fascism, both its political life and its military life are founded upon offensive action. Its existence from birth was rooted in the offensive; once the offensive ends, so too will its life end. The Battle of Stalingrad represents the end of the offensive by the fascist German army; hence it is a decisive battle. This decision is decisive for the entire world war.

From now on, Hitler will face three powerful enemies: the Soviet Union, Britain and the United States, and the masses of the people. On the Eastern Front stands the unshakable bulwark of the Red Army throughout the entire second winter and its subsequent counteroffensive. On the Western Front, even if Britain and the United States persist in a policy of waiting and delay, once there is a dead tiger to beat, the second front will inevitably be established. According to Secretary of War Stimson, the United States can arm an army of 4.5 million by this winter; according to Secretary of the Navy Knox, the United States can produce 60,000 aircraft this year and 125,000 next year. These forces have not yet been deployed. Hitler also has an “internal front”—a great popular insurrection brewing in Germany, France, and other parts of Europe, waiting only for the Soviet Union to launch a full-scale counteroffensive and for the guns of the second front to roar, at which point they will respond as a third front. Thus, a three-front assault upon Hitler—this will be the great historical process following the Battle of Stalingrad.

Napoleon’s political life ended at Waterloo, but its decisive point lay in his failure at Moscow. Hitler today is treading precisely the path of Napoleon; the Battle of Stalingrad is his decisive point. This situation will directly affect the Far East. Next year will not be an auspicious one for Japanese fascism either; it will feel a growing headache day by day until it strides toward the gate of its grave.

All those who take a pessimistic view of the world situation should change their perspective. With the greatest optimism, I celebrate this year’s anniversary of the October Revolution. I firmly believe that this year’s anniversary of the October Revolution marks the turning point not only of the Soviet-German war, but also of the entire world anti-fascist front’s victory over the fascist front. In the past period, because the Red Army bore the brunt of the resistance against fascist Germany and its European partners alone, Hitler could continue his offensives and had not yet been defeated. But now all this has changed: Hitler’s second summer offensive has gone bankrupt, thanks to the heroic efforts of the Red Army fighting alone. From now on, the task of the world anti-fascist front is to launch the offensive against the fascist front and finally defeat fascism.

The Red Army of Stalingrad has performed heroic deeds that bear on the destiny of all mankind—they are the sons and daughters of the October Revolution. The banner of the October Revolution is invincible, and all forms of fascism are bound to be wiped out.

We, the Chinese people, celebrate the victory of the Red Army. This is also a celebration of our own victory.

Our War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression has been going on for more than five years. Though hardships still lie ahead, the dawn of victory is already in sight. This is not only due to the fact that the plans for the fascist offensive of Hitler and his ilk have been shattered, but also because the fighting strength of the British and the Americans is steadily growing. All our efforts in China must be concentrated on combating Japanese fascism—this is the task of the Chinese people.

*Jiefang Daily*, November 7 [1942]