RACE AGAINST TIME

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 169, 19 July 1941, Page 1 (Supplement)

RACE AGAINST TIME

GERMANS MUST WIN QUICK VICTORIES

HUGE DEATH TOLL

Trench Warfare In Mud Delays Invaders

United Press Association. —Copyright. Reed. 5 p.m. LONDON, July 18. It is estimated in Berlin that the Soviet Army still has 5,000,000 men despite enormous losses. Neutrals believe Germany has 3,000,000 men engaged and her Allies 800,000.

Trench warfare with bayonet fighting in the mud has developed on some fronts, according to the Moscow newspaper "Izvestia." The development arose from Russians digging individual trenches to escape German artillery fire and bombing. When the German infantry appeared the Russians rose and attacked with the bayonet. One battalion repulsed eight successive German assaults, and another withstood the enemy for 20 hours, then counter-attacked and "liquidated the Germans."

The heavy German casualties are provoking increasing disquiet among the workers in Germany according to reports from the German frontier. A fall in factory production is one result. "Breathless Advance" "The Times" correspondent on the German frontier is even of the opinion that a failure to continue the breathless advance in Russia might gravely imperil the Nazi regime. The German Press has therefore raised public hopes of another gigantic week-end victory. The reality is that German losses are appalling and are ejected to become heavier.

The capture of Smolensk would seriously prejudice Russian defence because it is a crucial railway junction and a great industrial centre, but the Russians' relentless policy of destruction would deprive the Germans of concrete advantages.

Furthermore, the urgent need for a quick succession of victories will impel the Germans to push on hurriedly to Moscow without the chance of consolidation.

The "Daily Telegraph's" Stockholm correspondent says persistent reports that General Guderian, the organising genius of Germany's mechanised armies, has been killed on the Rus-

sian front, have heightened the anxiety that is spreading throughout Germany. A neutral diplomat said General Guderian was killed near Luck, probably being the victim of guerilla troops.

To-day's Moscow communique reports heavy lighting in the Pskov, Porkhov, Polotsk. Neval and Smolensk sectors, and says both sides have suffered heavy losses.

It is reported from Helsinki that the Finns have captured Vartsila, 33 miles northward of Sortavala. They found the factories and houses wrecked and aflame. The town of Enso was also in ruins.

Fate of Enemy Convoy The "Daily Telegraph's" Moscow correspondent says more detailed information of the Russian attack on the German convoy in the Baltic on July 12 reveals that four German destroyers at least, and 13 armed transports were sunk. The convoy consisted of 50 vessels. It is unlikely that many succeeded in reaching their own shores. The Moscow radio to-night quoted informed circles in Berne for a report that a number of famous German doctors have been, summoned to Berchtesgaden as a result of Hitler suffering an epileptic collapse during a military conference. The Berlin radio replied, announcing that Hitler to-day had received two airmen and decorated them with the Iron Cross.