SUVOROV (August 7–October 2, 1943) SUPERIOR ORDERS The claim “I was just following orders” issued by a superior officer, made to mitigate one’s responsibility for war crimes The defense was rejected at the Nuremberg Tribunal and Tokyo Tribunal, and does not find favor within most modern systems of moral reasoning However, it is as old as soldiering: “We know enough if we know we are the King’s men Our obedience to the King wipes the crime of it out of us” (Shakespeare, Henry V, Act 4, Scene I) See also Biscari massacre; Eichmann, Adolf; special orders SUPPORT GROUP See anti-submarine warfare; Atlantic, Battle of; convoys; cork patrols; Merchant Aircraft Carrier (MAC) SUPREME COMMAND, ALLIED POWER (SCAP) A coordinating committee of the Allied occupation authority in Japan, headed by General Douglas MacArthur It had several thousand employees Peopled with “New Dealers” as well as more pragmatic and hard-headed military men, it successfully repatriated and demobilized Japanese troops from all over the Pacific theater, as well as hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians It oversaw dismantling of Japan’s war industries and the zaibatsu, conducted the Tokyo war crimes trials, enfranchised Japanese women, forbade state support of Shinto, oversaw a massive land reform program, and drafted and set up Japan’s new “peace constitution.” SUPREME WAR COUNCIL The Anglo-French civilian committee that set general strategy from 1939 to 1940 It had no operational authority SUVOROV (AUGUST 7–OCTOBER 2, 1943) Code name for the Soviet counteroffensive that struck the Germans around Smolensk in the immediate wake of the defensive victory at Kursk Assaults were made by Kalinin Font against the left flank of Army Group Center and by Western Front against the right flank of Army Group North Initial resistance was heavy The attack stalled until major Soviet reserves were committed For a week the Soviets made slow progress, striving to break through the hard crust of the German line while fending off dozens of local counterattacks A stalemate looked to be the result at the end of the first two weeks, until a renewed attack toward Yelnia that began on August 21 broke through 2nd Guards Tank Army exploited the breach, advancing 30 km on the first day The Germans abandoned Yelnia at the end of the month More fighting in September saw the Soviet advance deepen to 150 miles across a frontage of 250 miles The smoldering ruins of Smolensk were retaken on September 25 Two tank armies from Kalinin Front next directly attacked the hinge of the two enemy army groups, pushing the Germans back from the key rail junction at Nevel by October That brought some relief to Leningrad, although Soviet forces were too weak to break the siege of Leningrad and stopped The overall operation held dozens of Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS divisions in the north and center of the 1055