Budenny’s Withdrawal Continues

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23413, 21 August 1941, Page 5

Budenny’s Withdrawal Continues

GERMANS ASSAULT ODESSA

(united press association—copyright.) (Received August 20,. 11.15 p.m.) LONDON, August 20.

Battles raged along the whole of the Eastern Front yesterday and last night, with particularly fierce fighting at four points—near Kingisepp, 70 miles south-west of Leningrad; near Novgorod, 100 miles south of Leningrad; near Homel, between Smolensk and Kiev; and near Odessa.

An tmofficial report from Berlin states that the Germans have already passed Novgorod in their drive on Leningrad, but this is not corroborated from Moscow, whose reports indicate that the fighting in this direction extends along the western and southern shores of Lake Ilmen. Nor is there anything 4o suggest that the Germans have pressed further east between Lake Ilmen and the Valdai Hills, where the Russians are strongly defending the approaches to the MoscowLeningrad railway.

The Stockholm correspondent of “The Times’* considers that the German advance in the Kingisepp direction, although of only a few miles, is possibly the most dangerous threat yet to Leningrad. However, he adds, there is no easy route to Leningrad. The Russians have for 10 years been spending vast sums inf constructing defences, and unless the Germans have brought enormous reinforcements their long finger risks severance between Lake Ilmen and Lake Peipus and the Gulf of Finland.

The sweeping German claims that they control the whole of the western Ukraine are not confirmed either in Moscow or London. There is no suggestion that Marshal Budenny’s withdrawal behind the bastion of the Dnieper is not continuing in an orderly fashion, in spite of the speed of the German thrust, and it seems likely that he is withdrawing the bulk of his armies in the western Ukraine.

There is no indication of the fate of Dnepropetrovsk, the great industrial centre on the Dnieper. Yesterday the Germans claimed that they had reached the Dnieper north and south of Dnepropetrovsk. The Germans say that after five days’ incessant dive-bombing of Odessa, with th* destruction of all Russian transports in the harbour, they have begun to fitiack from the land, aided by Rumanians. Their artillery, they say, is now near enough to bombard the town.

The Stockholm correspondent of •The Times” says that the Russian forces in Estonia are more thaa' ; guerrillas. Indeed, they still hoik a large part of the interior anti the coast line and also valuable islands. Russia’s Estonian forces may bfe invaluable if the main forces are 2)le to launch a serious counter-offen-ve. , ■. The people of Leningrad and Tallinn are intensifying their prepara’tions to resist the invaders. Men and ■■women volunteers are throwing up i Sandbag and concrete defence posts, land home guards in each city, are '.undergoing special training to deal ! With parachutists. Moscow dispatcher confirm that the Russians in the central sector are holding strongly, while Counter-attacks Rave thrown back the Germans near A Finnish communique claims that the Russians are cut off at Sortavala on the northernmost tip of Lake Ladoga. It says that the Russians are ctiu resisting strenuously, .but that the encircled area is being reduced. It is believed in London that Marshal Budenny’s rearguard is £till fighting an , effective action and is continuing to exact a heavy toll on the advanced German forces. A Berlin radio war commentator asserted that the successful advance of the southern German wing up the' Black Sea and Dnieper Estuary had brought a decisive change in the'situation in the Ukraine, but he admitted

Odessa cannot escape because of the destruction of the Black Sea transport fleet. '

Commenting on the German claim to have-captured eight warships at Nikolaev, the naval correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” points out that a battleship was laid- down at Nikolaev at the beginning of the war, but thqre has been little progress in construction because of difficulties in the delivery of materials, and the vessel is probably still merely a skeleton. Those warships nearer launching stage were no dount wrecked by explosion before the evacuation of the port. The Moscow radio claims that 1,500,000 Germans have been killed, wounded, or taken prisoner, and more than 6000 tanks and 8000 'guns destroyed or captured in the last six weeks.

Although the German people believed that the capture of the Ukraine would solve their food problem for the coming winter, the Berlin radio stated that the Russian wheat crop is not as big as the Germans had been led to believe.

The Moscow radio, however, stated that the grain harvest totalled 131,000,000 tons, which is far in excess of the bumper crop.of 1937, The Russians may flood the vast area of the south-western Ukraine by blasting the great Dnieprostroi dam on the Dnieper river if the battle goes f gainst them, states the Stockholm correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph." The destruction of the dam would send the pent-up waters of the Dnieper swirling through the plain? west of the Dnieper bend, creating a vast unnavigable flood. The Russians claim that the Dnieprostroi dam is the greatest hydro-elec-tric undertaking in the world. The dam, which has a capacity of 291,800,000,000 gallons, services power stations supplying the industrial area of Dnepropetrovsk.

It is believed that Marshal Budenny will not hesitate if it becomes necessary to destroy, at one blow, the whole of the Dnepropetrovsk industrial district and sweep away his enemies by blasting the dam. A military pact between Poland and Russia was concluded in Moscow yesterday. Four to six divisions of Poles will be formed for service in the campaign. According to the Russians, industrial and military targets were attacked in Berlin on Monday night, and fires and explosions Were caused.. All the Russian machines returned. It is announced in Moscow that an improved fighter aeroplane is being produced and is ready for immediate action.

.that small bridgeheads on the lower Dnieper were still strongly in Soviet r hands and also that fighting in the Kiev and Korosten areas was proceeding slowly because the Russians were defending themselves behind modern fcrtlflcatlons. ■ 1 According to dispatches to Moscow. Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has smashed German attempts to land forces on the Russian coast, as part of the Ukrainian campaign. No details were • **ven. ...... . t Russian dispatches from the front describe the rout of two German battalions of the 88th Regiment of the 15th Division, which played a promin- • ■ £2* P art * n the fighting in Belgium, France, and Greece. •, : ■ . ■ The-dispatches claim that the division was heavily drained , of its eneclives in a three-day battle for strategic heights on the outskirts, of an bnnamed town. The Russians advanced several miles and took the heights, killing more 1 than 400 Germans and jvounding more than WOO, and captur„tng prisoners and guns. . k A German communique issued yes- -. terday claims that the entire, region . y*st of the Dnieper is now in" Nazi hands. ...X*We have launched an attack on ,Odessaand haye Isolated bridgeheads the lower Dnieper," states the com* .UJpunlque, “The enemy suffered heavy -Xjfiosscs in the course of these fights. “Sixty thousand prisoners - were token in addition to the number .reported in'the battle of Uman, and 84 tanks, 53Q guns, and an of

The “Evening Standard’’ states: “The Russians have lost none of their skill in meeting the blitzkrieg, but they have to .face Hitler and his gang who are fighting for their lives. If Britain cannot launch a major invasion to divert some German forces,' other means must be discovered of. assisting our ally. They must have all the supplies we can give them. “Soviet Russia must never go down. All our own prospects are governed by her endurance. Her performance has saved us from the immediate horror of invasion just as surely as the diversion of bombers against Moscow has saved countless families in London.”

The German military leaders are taking drastic measures to check the growing • desertions on the Eastern Front, states a Stockholm report. Deserters’ relatives in Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, and Danzig have been sentenced to terms of, up to <five years’ imprisonment.' Relatives have also been sent to 'concentration camps on charges of having encouraged soldiers to desert.

The Moscow radio has broadcast a message signed by five German officers who are prisoners, appealing to the German Army to overthrow Herr Hitler, who is described as “the maniac adventurer who has brought Germany to the verge of an abyss,"- The letter added that Germany may hold out for a while, but the longer the; war lasts the worse will be the consequences for Germany. An appeal to the Red Navy nel not to scuttle their ships, was broadcast from the Berlin radio. “Now is'your- last chance to choose between the dishonour of sinking your ships and the honour of handing them over to Germany.” said the announcer. “We are your liberators. We are already sacrificing a tremendous number of our best sons, but we must fulfil our mission. Give Us your ships. They will lie used for. the benefit of your country.”

other war materials were captured. . ‘We captured the harbour ut Nikolaev, taking a battleship of 35,000. tons, 0 cruiser or 10,000 tons,'lour destroyers ond two submarines, all of which are ■till on the stocks. In addition we sank • gunboat and severely damaged another. We captured a floating dock Wily laden with locomotives." - Hie Germans claim that the Russian •wees which they have trapped an