RUSSIAN ACTIVITY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 247, 31 July 1941, Page 6

RUSSIAN ACTIVITY.

HEAVY COUNTERATTACKS MADE CLAIMS BY THE FINNS. (Rec. 2 p.m.) LONDON, July 30.. Heavy Russian ccounter-attacks in the Smolensk area were again a feature of the fighting to-day. Authorities in London said that these counter-attacks might be tlie beginning of a Russian offensive on a large scale. The Germans, who continue to promise important decisions, may very soon claim that their supply lines have been established on the Moscow road far east from Smolensk, but it seems that they have been held in this area and are actually suffering severe punishment' from Marshal Tiiposhenho’s legions. Tlie Germans claim that the pressure on Leningrad in increasing but the only evidence they produce is vague mention of successes north of Lake Peipus. The claims regarding progress in the southern front are similarly vague,- mentioning . fighting south of the Bug River. German and Finnish troops, it is claimed, have advanced on the Finnish front after violent fighting, despite the Russians setting fire to forests. The Stockholm correspondent of “The Times” says that the Finns and Germans are creeping forward on both sides of Lake Ladoga, but neither Olonfz nor the Baltic White Sea canal is immediately threatened, and Russians, who are believed to have adequate forces to meet anything the Germans and Finns bring up, still hold the greater part of both the eastern and western shores of Lake Ladoga. The Finns in their drive toward Pertozavodsk are. not more than onethird the distance across the Isthmus between Lake Ladoga and Onega and are now, in country where groups ol lakes and streams favour the defence Only fancy and small-scale maps can suggest any- sort of real threat to Leningrad, considering the large Russian forces and the defendable nature of the terrain. M. Lozovsky (Vice-Foreign Commissar) stated late to-night that the Russian- coUnter-attacks had driven some Nazi divisions back 100 miles. Several German units had been encircled and the Germans had been halted everywhere. The Russian communique to-night says: “Fighting occurred to-day in the Novorjev, Neva], Smolensk and Jitomir’ sectors, being especially heavy and stubborn in the Stnolensk and Jitomir areas. Soviet planes bombed Ploesti and Sulina, causing great fires.

The Germans continue to emphasise the difficulties. The spokesman at the Berlin radio declared that Russian tanks were heavier and move strongly armed than Germany’s biggest, and also were superior numerically.