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roads and more particularly the effective interference
of the Russians with the German communications.
     Stalin says that even though the war has been going
on only six weeks, his troops are meeting brand new 
divisions at the front, and some of the original divisions 
seem to have been withdrawn. He believes that the morale 
of his owu troops is extremely high, and realizes that 
this is partly due to the fact that they are fighting for 
their homes and in familiar territory. He said that 
Germany has already found that "moving mechanized forces 
through Russia was very different than moving them over 
the boulevards of Belgium and France".
     Stalin said that the Russian Army had been confronted
with a surprise attack; he himself believed that Hitler
would not strike but he took all precautions possible to 
mobilize his army. Hitler made no demands on Russia, 
hence they were forced to organize a defensive line of 
battle. Now the Russians were cottoter-attacking at many 
points.
 
          He said the Russian Army had met few of the 70-ton 
German tanks but that this was probably due to the in-
ability of the Russian bridges to hold the tanks. He 
believes the terrain too difficult to manoeuvre these 
giant tanks. Where the 70-ton tanks were encountered, 
they were pierced by the Russian 75 mm. guns. He does 
not think that the very large German tank will play an 
important part in the war in Russia, although there are 
parts of the southern front where these tanks can manoeuvre. 
The roads are very bad for the big tanks to operate over.