GERMANS PAY HUGE PRICE TO ADVANCE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 280, 26 November 1941, Page 7

GERMANS PAY HUGE PRICE TO ADVANCE

CRITICAL POSITION

Soviet Air Force Strongly Supports Army U.P.A. and British Wireless. j Rec. 1 p.m. LONDON, Nov. 25. Some of the fiercest fighting of the whole of the Russian campaign is proceeding all along the approaches to Moscow. The Germans are throwing everything they possess into the battle. Slowly the Russians appear to be falling back. No confirmation is given to a German claim to be within 30 miles of the capital at Solnechavagora, but the Moscow radio indicated that fighting was taking place at Klin, only 10 miles further north. The danger to the capital is admitted by the Moscow radio to be great. Quoting from a dispatch from the front, the radio says that on the north-west approaches of Moscow an especially tense situation has been created. Throughout last week the enemy was constantly attacking in the Volokalamsk and Klin directions, and the bloody fighting does not cease. In spite of the enemy's great superiority in numbers and ] tanks, the Russian troops are offering stubborn resistance, and the j enemy is suffering very great losses. However, he is continuing his attacks, and in the Volokaiamsk direction he has increased his pressure. In the Klin direction he threw into battle two tank divisions and one motorised infantry division. After long and fierce fighting he succeeded in pushing the Russians back. Defenders Doing Utmost Fierce fighting is continuing in this sector. The Soviet troops are receiving fresh reinforcements, but the danger for Moscow is great. The troops are doing their utmost to hold the enemy. A supplement to the Soviet communique gives details of air successes on the south-western and southern fronts. Thirty-nine tanks, seven armoured cars, 760 lorries with enemy soldiers, five patrol tanks, 25 guns and over 100 carts with shells were destroyed and two regiments of infantry and more than one platoon of enemy cavalry were routed.

Hitler has thrown 1.000.000 infantrymen ant j over 10,000 tanks into the battle for Moscow, says the Stockholm correspondent of the Daily Telegraph. The Russian newspaper Pravda says three tank divisions from General Rommel's Africa Corps are operating on the Moscow front, where the Germans are employing all their available reserves. The Russian Tass agency states that in the north-western and southern sectors the battlefield is covered with scores of crippled tanks, hundreds of burned-out lorries and thousands of dead. The situation is described as very tense. "Now or Never for Hitler" The Soviet newspaper Izvestia, commenting on the new German onslaught, says: "The Germans know that the Red Army reserves are incalculable. This is not a mere phrase but an actual, practical military prospect. Hitler's exhausted troops will inevitably be confronted with fresh Russian units which are now being formed, for which reason it is now or never for Hitler." The Times correspondent at Kuibyshev says: "Although there is no attempt here to underestimate the seriousness of tne military position, on the central and southern fronts, official circles maintain the view that Germany is not likely to be able to continue throughout the winter to stand the rate of losses inflicted by the Russians. By selling their territory dearly in order to gain time, the Russians believe they have already caused the enemy to dip deeply into his reserves. Evidence supporting this view includes the capture of prisoners aged over 50 in the Kalinin sector, also desertions of ill-clad Germans in the Tula area and the Luftwaffe's failure to find enough aeroplanes to bomb vital , communications leading to Moscow.''