Violent Soviet Attacks Launched

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 172, 23 July 1941, Page 7

Violent Soviet Attacks Launched

SMOLENSK STRUGGLE Nsz> Hope To Break Through And Disrupt Stalin Regime (United Press Association.—Copyright.— Rec. 1 p.m.) LONDON, July 22. A great battle has been raging in the Smolensk area since the week-end with hundreds of Russian tanks violently counterattacking. Ihe Russians apparently are also counter-attacking fiercely at Pskov, Porkhov and in the south-west. The Germans at present are focusing all their picked forces on Smolensk, hoping to break through to Moscow and disrupt Stalin's regime. They are noticeably concentrating their political warfare on producing stories of the breakdown of the Russian military authority and simultaneously attempting to discredit the regime Stalin's son, who was captured, is stated to have declared that he surrendered because he realised the hopelessness of the whole struggle against Germany. The Germans apparently hope that the capture of Moscow will produce revolution before the German war machine is too gravely impaired. The Russians, however, have completed mobilisation of the second great army in the neighbourhood of Moscow and more men are being mobilised continuously. Neutral reports mention the masses of Russian troops moving up to the front line. A German communique claims that operations of the German Army, carried out in conjunction with their Allies, have divided the Soviet defence front into un-co-ordinated groups. A Finnish communique says the Finns occupied and passed Pitkaranta, eight miles south-east of Kitela, taking numerous prisoners and considerable material. The Karelian Isthmus is quiet, but the Finns claim launching an offensive in the direction of Kakisalmi. Artillery duels continue at Hanko. The Russian Air Force, in addition to raiding over Finland, engaged in considerable fighting over the battlefront and also dropped parachutists in several areas. The German radio stated that northern Estonia is still in Russian hands. Bitter fighting, it was said, is proceeding around Kiev. Moscow radio quoted an order by von Kliest, commander of the German Tank Corps, saying: "Rumours about Soviet tanks breaking through have caused panic. Anyone provoking or spreading panic must be court-martialled. Officers must act with the utmost severity and when necessary resort to arms."