OVER THE WIRE

LONDON--Military experts believed today that the Germans plan to drive across Crimea to the Caucasus and turn north to come up on the oil port of Rostov from behind and outflank the whole Russian Don River defense line.

Heavy German artillery at Kerch, the eastern harbor of the peninsula, could dominate the narrow straits and cut off whatever units of the Soviet Black Sea fleet might be left in the Sea of Azov.

Air patrols could give the Germans a powerful screen for an attempted crossing to the Caucasian mainland. Once there they would not only be in a position to wheel around and strike at the Don line from the rear, but could reach out for the oil fields around Maikop, less than 200 miles to the southeast.