PANZER THRUST

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 151, 28 June 1941, Page 1 (Supplement)

PANZER THRUST

GERMAN DIVISIONS ADVANCE STRONGLY

BREAK THROUGH Minsk Is Objective Of Spearhead Movement United Press Association.—Copyright. Rec. 5.30 p.m. LONDON, June 27. German Panzer divisions have broken through the Russian defences at the junction of the Niemen and Neris Rivers, and are now 50 miles from Minsk, says the "New York Times" Berne correspondent. It is thought that a Nazi spearhead is now appearing as a prelude to an engagement of the main bodies of the armies. "The Times" correspondent, Major Baldwin, regards the situation as perilous but not critical, provided the Russians move quickly. The American military expert, Fletcher Pratt, says the Red Army appears to be repeating the mistakes which the Czarist forces made in the last war. Instead of engaging the enemy and fighting a retreat which offered the best chance of slowing down the mechanised German columns and exhausting them in the immensity of Russia, the Red Army is fighting all along the line. It has even taken the offensive at Przemysl, in Galicia. Such an offensive -can only run into the impregnable mass of the Carpathian mountains. German counter-thrusts in the north and far south aim at a colossal movement for a double encirclement "The Times" Istanbul correspondent says the entire city of Constanza, chief port of Rumania, is ablaze, and Soviet air raids have also heavilydamaged Sulina, Galati, Braila, Tulcea, and Jassy. Bucharest was heavily bombed to-day. The Government is reported to have moved to Sinaia. * Huge fires burned for three hours at an oil refinery near Budapest. The cause is unknown. According to German reports several hundred Russian planes raided Finland in daylight yesterday. The docks at Turko were set ablaze. Ten other towns, chiefly bases of the Karelian Army, were also bombed.