A NEW THRUST

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 252, 6 August 1941, Page 5

A NEW THRUST

SOUTH-EAST OF LENINGRAD. BATTLE NEAR LAKE LADOGA. NO CHANGE AT SMOLENSK. (United Press Association —Copyright.) LONDON, August 5. A new German thrust on the Eastern Front was reported by the Russians when they announced last night that intense fighting was going on in the region of Kholm, about midway between Leningrad and Smolensk. The German objective is not yet clear, but it is possibly aimed at cutting Leningrad’s communications .’with the south. There is no indication of the strength of the German thrust, and it seems probable that if the Germans arc employing their usual strategy their pan-, zer units jhave rushed forward far ahead of the main body. As yet it is uncertain whether the Germans intend to turn this drive north toward Leningrad or south toward Smolensk. In the offensive, against Leningrad from the north, German and Finnish troops are attempting to skirt Lake Ladoga, and heavy fighting is going on around Sortavala, on the northernmost Tip °f the lake. The Russians are holding Sortavala, against all attacks, and, according to messages received in Vichy from Helsinki, Soviet tanks are ceaselessly counter-attacking and the Russians arc bringing up reinforcements. Russians in Finland. The Stocldiold correspondent of "The Times” says the easily - defendable Karelian Isthmus is packed with Russian troops, who obviously do not expect to be obliged to retreat. Indeed, the idea seems to have clirystallised in the Finnish mind that the Russians may launch a great offensive from the isthmus with the object of swarming into Southern Finland toward Helsinki. - This eventuality was scarcely mentioned'- previously, when the Finns imagined the war alongside Germany would be exclusively offensive and would not involve the danger of Finland being invaded. Tho position round Smolensk does not appear to have changed in the last 24 hours, and the Russians say that intense fighting is going on in that area. The German claims about operations in this sector are more optimistic than they have been for some time, and they say that they have almost encircled the Russians here in a battle of extermination. The Russians speak of continued battles against the southern claw of the German pincers movement in the Ukrainej in the direction of Byelava Tsorkov, but there is no mention of the operations of tho northern arm in the region of Korosten, German Plan Failing. The original German plan of campaign against the massive Russian armies remains to encircle and then destroy them. This policy, according to Swiss dispatches from Berlin yesterday, is failing along the whole front. The Berlin correspondent of the “None Zuercher Zeitung” declares that a large-scale Russian withdrawal on the southern front is being effected so successfully that the German plans for encirclement have been nullified.

Tho correspondent of another Zurich newspaper, on the other hand, reports tiiat the 'Germans frequently encircle Russian forces, but these always break through the enclosing ring. In spite of Nazi claims regarding Russian losses, the correspondent adds, the Luftwaffe lias been very active in the last few days attempting to halt the seemingly endless stream of Russian reinforcements. Dive-bombers are combing the vast forest lands from where the Russians sally out against the German rear and start, bloody battles delaying the enemy.

The well-informed Berlin correspondent of the “Busier National Zeitung” savs there are no indications in the Gennadi capital that t(lie Russian counter-attacks are weakening. He adds that the only German reply to the Russian announcement that a “great German division was nearly annihilated is that this division took 5000 prisoners at the beginning of the cam-* paign. f Russians Massing at Smolensk. German broadcasters from the Smolensk front emphasise that the Russians in the last three days have been massing a considerable uuiuoei of new troops east of Smolensk. These broadcasts, which continue to refer to fanatical Russian resistance, are phrased as iT Smolensk has fallen, but German authorities reiterate then warning that territorials gains are not in themselves the main object of the warfare, and military spokesmen m Berlin continue to declare that the outcome of the present battle m the Smolensk region will decide the whole Russian-German war. . Tho latest' Moscow communique states: “Our troops, yesterday continued lighting the enemy in the directions of Porkhov, Smolensk, and Byelaya Tsorkov, while our air force continually bombed enemy mechanised forces, motorised units, infantry, and artillcrv. Twenty German aeroplanes were shot down on Saturday. We lost six.” ' , . German statements continue to describe how the Soviet forces are being more and more compressed by the iron ring of Nazi troops, but even German sources testily to the Russians curious capacity for lighting weeks on end after being theoretically obliterated. . The Stockholm correspondent ol “ihe Timas” says the Vienna ns in the northornmost sector are still floundering on or about the Liza river, which they reached a month ago in the first “blitz” against Murmansk. It has proved very difficult, if not impossible, to move heavy traffic across the tundra because the dried crust cracks easily, and porridge-like mud oozes from the seemingly bottomless depths. General Diotl, the German Commander on this front, cannot travel “light” with anv chance of success against

the Russians’ yvell-placed defences. German claims to have destroyed the Russian Air Force and bases in this area are exaggerated, because the Germans now mention Russian bombers operating from the Murmansk base. General Ifietl’s forces against Murmansk consist entirely of Austrians and Germans.'' The Germans outnumber the Finns on they Sal la front, where the initial progress was achieved only at the cost of heavy losses. The Germans’ subsequent efforts have been checked. General Siilavuo, who won a reputation in the winter war against Russia, commands the Finnish forces driving toward the White Sea exit of the canal from Leningrad.