NAZI RAID ON MOSCOW WAS "MEDIUM BLITZ"

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

NAZI RAID ON MOSCOW WAS "MEDIUM BLITZ"

LASTED 5i HOURS Enemy Underrated City's Defences United Press Association.—Copyright. Rec. 1 p.m. LONDON, July 22. The Nazi raid on Moscow began at 10 p.m. and ended at 3.30 a.m. It must be considered a failure. Defend- ] ing planes allowed only a few raiders to Moscow. No military target was hit. While a Berlin news agency claimed that the raid against Moscow last night equalled the heaviest against Britain, correspondents who experienced the bombings of LonSu? „ de scribed it as a "medium mitz. Fires faintly lit up the sky, tne spectacular red glow of London's worst fire raids was Tacking. If the ttussian figure of 200 raiders is cortv'i attack was indeed only oneTnira of the strength that London experienced on at least two nights. Apparently the Germans were attempting to carrv out from the air wnat their panzer forces failed to r™l leV£ vr a br eak-through to Mosth t v. correspondent suggests inat the Germans underrated Moscow s defences, especially as the first raiders were over Moscow while it wa s still light. Anti-aircraft guns put up a tremendous fire of flaming ™ on , s ,. and tracers. Shell-bursts. Khhghtsand German flares added Sin ik Sarishness and the rat-a-tat rtna Doom of guns was continuous ci™? u , ghom tne ''aid with an occaanrt i switch of incendiary bombs «ma less-frequemty explosives. , Soviet Fighters Effective Fighters operated most effectively, correspondents agree that most of' S? Aiders were turned back before '" e 7 reached the city. The raid Thi comparatively small damage, tne correspondent of the Associated f£l ss ?f Great Britain savs the only rh? bom bing in the centre of the ri;; Wa i a crater outside the AmerifhSu mbassy - Fire watchers quickly Tt,J « lth most (lf the incendiaries, dm? Hom e Guards, police and ward's co-operated, and the public remained calm. Britons in one build»»g Which was sei on fire assisted thefe erst 0 cicickly extinguish pJ*?* of the traces of damage were lio wm- up within three hours. Pub- «- utility services were normal in ntvL moi : nin S- The Kremlin and UL «er public centres were untouched. ro^,i Sov , iet communique states: "We TtSJ. Ed an ail " raicl on Leningrad. p£w , wa . s intense fighting around Smolensk and Novo--Braa Volynsk. There were no imgr??nt actions elsewhere. We shot I 9 en eniy planes during two to reach Leningrad. Four of our planes are missing." Tiif? e German news agencv says the rirJf, aft - e bombed enemy aerow? es in all sectors on the eastern nr. ' , railwa y s west of Moscow, and • ttni ,• Troop concentrations were • acked by dive-bombers, which inled heavy lossca in Uv NuvograJ