CLAWING DOWN NAZI BOMBERS FROM SKIES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 212, 8 September 1941, Page 7

CLAWING DOWN NAZI BOMBERS FROM SKIES

LENINGRAD FRONT

Enemy Losing Heavily In Tanks And Troops

UP.A. and British Wireless. Rec. 1 p.m. LONDON, Sept. 7,

The Leningrad radio to-day is putting out messages of confidence. A fighter pilot, Titarenko, who has been twice decorated, in a broadcast, said: "Stalin's falcons have destroyed over 300 Nazi planes at the approaches of Leningrad."

Another speaker declared that tens of thousands of Hitler's hounds and hundreds of German planes and tanks had already found graves on the Leningrad front.

Pravda's war correspondent says the Germans are throwing their best men and machines into the battle for Leningrad, and their losses are exceptionally heavy in this area. The 90th Division lost over 1500 killed and wounded. Its commander was wounded and captured. The Russian counter-attacks have thrown the Germans from various positions, including a village where the Germans had concentrated tanks and artillery.

The Berlin radio, after claiming that Leningrad was completely cut off, now admits some land communications with the rest of Russia are still open. The radio added that the city was under constant artillery fire, and the north of the city especially was in extreme danger.

An attempt by the German air force to raid military objectives on the approaches to Leningrad cost the raiders 17 aircraft out of 30 which took part.

The midday Russian communique states, "During last night our troops continues* fighting with energy on the entire front. Our armed forces m the south-western sector were very successful in attacking enemy artillery and motorised columns." Russians' Radio Explosions The Germans are forced daily to admit Russian ingenuity in destructiveness when it is deemed necessary. The latest instance, the Berlin radio says, is that the Russians are exploding by remote radio control in Wiipuri by remote radio control, shortwave radio transmitters being used to touch off the charge.

. Berlin also says the Russians left m Wiipuri a number of time bombs which exploded later, destroying historic buildings.

The story of the original German attack on Kiev appears in the Moscow newspaper Pravda. At the beginning of August the Germans concentrated on the south side of tne_ city's defences three infantry divisions, including three and a half artillery regiments. On the day when the general offensive was launched masses of aircraft, thrown the Soviet artillery defences at Kiev, were rolled back, and a day later the Soviet artillery checked the enemy advancc and destroyed in the

course of several days 23 tanks and armoured cars, 82 motor cars, 11 anti-tank guns, 7 petrol dumps, 39 artillery batteries and 49 mortar batteries. in addition to a supply column and personnel.

The defenders of Kiev made a counter-attack and routed three German divisions, pursued the enemy, inflicting heavy losses and retaking villages.

Germans Feeling Strain The official opinion in London on the results of the Russian campaign for the week ended September 5 is that as the result of the heavy fighting particularly in the direction of Leningrad and the Ukraine, the Germans made some further progress in several sectors, but there were signs that the campaign was imposing increasing strain on the. Germans. German casualties have been severe, and on parts of the fronts their operations have been handicapped by adverse weather. On the Leningrad front the Germans continued their strenuous efforts to encircle the city from the south. In this sector they have been employing strong armoured and motorised forces, which have made some progress despite strong Russian resistance and the heavy rain.

Further south German infantry divisions have been engaged along the River Lovat, which runs from Kholm. In this sector also rain has fallen heavily, and no progress appears to have been made by the Germans. In the Ukraine the most important fighting continued to be on the southern flank of the Smolensk salient, where the Germans' objectives appear to be to cut the Bryansk-Kiev railway and outflank the Russian defences on a line of the Dnieper south of Kiev. Further south the Germans are endeavouring to face fierce Russian resistance and secure and enlarge the bridgeheads over the Dnieper.

On the central front the situation has undergone no material change. Earlier reports on the fighting on the road from Smolensk to Moscow state that the Germans have made no progress in the latest fighting, and north-east of Smolensk the Russians have delivered successful counterattacks.

On the Finnish front the Russians have retired to their own former fortified frontier in 1939. There is little news of the operations, but the enemy has not reached the Mur-mansk-Leningrad railway. The whole of the mainland of Estonia has now been overrun by the Germans, but the islands of Oesel and Dago, commanding the entrance of the Gulf of Riga, are still held by the Russians.

It is considered that, though the Germans may by-pass Leningrad, they will not want to do so since it would leave a troublesome bastion on their flank.