STRAIGHT IN THE EYES

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 62, Issue 6, 18 October 1941, Page 5

STRAIGHT IN THE EYES

RUSSIANS LOOKING AT DANGER. “THE WHOLE NATION RISING.” (Rec. 10.25 a.m.) LONDON, Oct. 17. It is stated in authoritative circles in London that no further details of the position in Russia have been received direct, as the military mission is at present on the move from Moscow. The Russian communique issued this morning repeats the night communique in saying that fighting continues along the whole front, being at its most intense in the sector in the western direction. The newspaper “Pravda” says: “There is grave danger and the whole nation has only one wish and one thought; and that is to block the road of the enemy and annihilate the enemy. Hitler feared a long war —a war against the three most powerful countries in the world, well knowing that aid from Britain and the United States will come to Russia from overseas. Therefore he is in a hurry, therefore he has thrown into the battle all his reserves, the troops of his vassals and a stream of tanks. “Now it is necessary to strengthen our ranks and no losses will weaken our determination to annihilate the. enemy. The more towns and villages occupied and destroyed by the enemy the more the Soviet nation hates him. In the hour of danger our nation will not know the feeling of panic. “Now, when the situation has become more complicated, we shall he braver than ever before. The whole nation is rising. In factories production is increasing and more tanks, planes and guns are being produced. Our Red Army is getting new reserves. The partisans behind the front are inflicting losses on the enemy. The Soviet people are looking danger straight in the eyes, knowing well their own strength and the strength of their allies. Hitler has thrown into the battle all his forces, but the Soviet people are confident of victory.”

Saying that the peril of Moscow will strike the sympathetic imagination of the whole British people, “The Times” adds: ‘“Hitler may even now not cherish the illusion that if his generals succeed in hoisting the Swastika over the Kremlin Russia is defeated. Moscow will fight as desperately as Leningrad has fought to keep the invader at bay, but if the men and women of Moscow were once more overwhelmed by foreign hordes Russia would still live and conquer.”

The Russians have not confirmed the Axis claim to have occupied Odessa. The fall of Odessa is a serious blow to the Black Sea fleet, but it is not crippling. It is pointed out that even if Sebastopol is rendered untenable by an attack against the Crimea Novorossiclt remains as a naval base. Thus ends the epic story of Odessa’s defence, as there is no reason to doubt that the city is now in the possession of the Axis forces, although it might reasonably he questioned whether the citizens, who for many weeks so spiritedly hurled every available missile against the invaders, would so readily switch over to bouquets as the Rumanian High Command naively suggests. On the southern end of the front, near the Sea of Azov, the Russians still appear to be holding the Germans east of Mariupol. It was stated in Moscow to-day that the Crimea was still in telephonic communication with the mainland. *