FMH
This telegram must be closely paraphrased before being communicated to anyone. (SC)
 
Moscow
Dated December 8, 1942
Rec'd 2:55 p.m., 9th
 
 
Secretary of State,
 
Washington.
 
TRIPLE PRIORITY
 
523, December 8, 8 p.m. (SECTION FIVE)
 
     We saw  numerous mobile machine shops, transport pools and other evidences of
resourcefulness behind their lines.
     Heretofore every unit in the Red Army had attached to it a political representative of the
Communist Party called a Military Commissar.  The system was established originally because of
distrust in the political inclinations of the Red Army.  The execution of any plan by a Military
Commander that did not have the approval of the Commissar was at the risk of the Commander. 
If the plan of the Military Commander failed, it made him liable to be relieved from duty or worse. 
This situation, we were advised, made many Military Commanders extremely cautious.  Fear of
the consequences of failure of a military plan made Commanders over-conservative to the point of
actual timidity.  The result was that the Military Commanders seldom took the chances that are
always a concomitance of bold and successful military operations.