No Further Progress Made

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23415, 23 August 1941, Page 9

No Further Progress Made

(united press association—copyright.) (Received August 22, 11.30 p.m.) LONDON, August 22,

Since Marshal Voroshilov’s appeal that Leningrad should be defended to the last there has been no indication of further German progress toward the city. A report published in the Stockholm newspaper “Aftonbladet” that the Germans are only 12 miles from Leningrad is not supported by the latest Russian communique, which reports particularly fierce fighting in the direction of Kingisepp and Novgorod, both of which towns the Germans claim to hold. Kingisepp is 70 miles south-west of Leningrad, and Novgorod is 100 miles south.

Herr Hitler is unquestionably doing his utmost to gain a decision in this sector before the snows which are due within a month add new worries to his already strained forces.

The correspondent of “The Times” on the German frontier points out that decisive gains on the eastern front before the winter will give Nazism a new lease of life, quieting the anxiety of the German people for the promised early peace. Eighty per cent, of Germany’s total military strength has, therefore, been sent to the east and thousands of labour squads are building and repairing roads and railways immediately behind the armed forces.

The Germans apparently have occupied more areas in the rear of their drive from Estonia, where the latest territorial gains appear to include the Turi region.

The German radio” claims that the Finns are progressing favourably toward Leningrad east of Lake Ladoga and a Finnish communique says the Finns captured three villages in an advance between Kexholm and Yiborg. Other sources, however, indicate no material change in this sector or elsewhere.

The battle continues fiercely in the Home! sector on the central front, and Marshal Budenny’s forces appear to be manoeuvring successfully in the lower Dnieper region, holding the enemy west of Kiev where, according to the “Giornale d’ltalia,” the Italians are

operating. Marshal Budenny is widely employing Cossack horse forces for daring attacks into the Ger- ' man flanks. The cavalrymen are able to retreat across ground which is impassable for mechanised forces and because of the danger of these raids the German forces adhere mainly to the roads.

The Russians in their latest communique do not mention the fighting in the Ukraine.

The Germans, in the communique claiming the capture of Novgorod and Kingisepp, also shy they have taken .the Estonian port of Narva. The biggest of the German newspaper claims in the Ukraine are not supported by the Berlin or Italian wireless. The Germans are making a propaganda victory out of the capture of a town at the mouth of the Dnieper, on the west bank, which they incorrectly describe as Russia’s most important harbour on the Black Sea. This port is east of Odessa. The Germans also speak of attacks by air on the port installations at Odessa. The Stockholm correspondent of “The Times” states that it is reported that the Russians have already succeeded in evacuating 100,000 men from finoirplpH Meanwhile the Official German News Agency claims that the Luftwaffe heavily bombed Odessa on Wednesday and sank a 6000-ton merchantman and damaged others. Moscow reports state that Marshal Budenny has routed the 94th German Infantry Division under General Feiffer. Three-quarters of the division were killed or wounded, and many were taken prisoner in a 10days’ battle. The Official German News Agency claims the capture, of high Russian officers in the Dnieper bend, including Lieutenant-General Sokolov, described as the commander of the Soviet 16th Tank Corps, who was seriously wounded. Behind the German lines; the Russians are using new guerrilla tactics with success. Men wait in launches among the reeds fringing the Dnieper, and dash out to intercept the Germans In their attempts to cross by boat, barge, and raft, and spoil attempts at bridge-building. In one of these attacks recently, the Russians captured a raft carrying four heavy guns across the river. They killed the crew and threw the guns into the river.

“Germans Will Be Routed”

A German spokesman, summing up the two months’ operations, emphasised large territorial gains and great Russkn losses, but M. Lozovsky, the Soviet spokesman, immediately answered with a similar survey of German losses. The Germans claim the capture or destruction of 16,000 Russian tanks, ttore than 14,000 guns, and 11,000 aeroplanes. They also claim that Russian casualties are 5,000,000, of which 1»200.000 are prisoners, and they say they have occupied nearly 350,000 *QUare miles.

M. Lozovsky stated that the Germans killed or wounded so far numbered 2,000,000, of whom half were killed. He added that mankind had hot known such losses in such a short time. The Germans had occupied only a. small part of Soviet territory and. even Hitler realised that the war had just begun. “We know Germany’s strength and Potentialities,” he said. “We are not alarmed and we are not pessimistic. We are closing our ranks still tighter. The Germans cannot conquer Russia. They -will be routed.” ,M. Lozovsky revealed that the Russians blew up an unfinished battleship Mid a cruiser and a shipyard before they withdrew from Nikolaev. He said Odessa was neither a Dunkirk nor a Tobrak, but one of the fiercest and most memorable battles of the war. The Moscow radio announced that bombers on Wednesday night dropped incendiaries and explosives on military Mid industrial targets in Berlin without loss to themselves. “All the bombs hit their targets," the announcement said.

TACTICS

SECRET

PREPARATION FOR OFFENSIVE

The Berlin radio has threatened that me Luftwaffe will grind Leningrad to hibble like Warsaw if the city is defended. Meanwhile the Soviet central army is counter-attacking strongly in the Smolensk area. The “Red Star ,r states *b*t the Russian troops, under GenMjll Koniev, are increasing the weight of their attacks, and have captured more local centres.

' A British Official Wireless message •ays the present success f the Germans in Russia, although serious, is not Regarded as presaging an early Russian defeat, since the front seems to retain cohesion and there is a general impression in London, though it is not con- , finned, that Marshal Budenny has extri--1 catena,great part of his armies to contone the struggle east of the Dnieper. Russian reports even speak of the rout i- if • German division In the west

territorial gains IN. ESTONIA

Ukraine, so evidently the Germans are not having their own way even west of the Dnieper. The report that the Russians have blown up the great dam at Zaporozhe is still unconfirmed, but if by doing so Marshal Budenny saved part of his army and facilitated the holding of the Dnieper line, then the economic loss will probably be justified. Mention of the fighting at Homel seems to indicate a German attack to outflank the Kiev sector and turn the Dnieper line, and it may thus constitute a serious threat to the Russian defence in the north. Leningrad Offensive

Marshal Voroshilov’s summons to the people of Leningrad to defend the city to the last, together with the German claims to have captured Novgorod, shows that the Germans are making a serious attempt to reach this objective also, though they are probably still at least 50 or 60 miles away. From the effort expended by the Germans in this thrust it is evident that they are now making a third great offensive in the attack on Russia, but it remains to be seen whether it will go further or prove more decisive than the first two, which cost the Germans such enormous losses \n men and materials. Meanwhile "The Times," quoting the report of a correspondent of a Zurich newspaper, who visited the front, that the Germans are having great difficulties with their communications, observes that the use of aeroplanes for transport to the front on a large scale suggests that they are in serious straits. The correspondent goes on to say that the whole German construction organisation is standing by to provide housing for the troops in the approaching winter, and -that the country he saw was so completely devastated as to afford no shelter whatever. Although information about the progress of the fighting in the titanic struggle between Russia and Germany may be confused because of the extent of the territory covered and the fact that not one battle but many are proceeding with varying fortunes, one fact stands out beyond all else—the magnificent bravery with which the Russian soldiers are fighting against the violent onslaught of the Nazi aggressors. The Swiss newspaper, “Journal de Geneva ” says the element of surprise in thie conflict is the stubborn resistance of the Russians. _ The younger generation has been trained in the idea of struggle and contempt of death. ’ A message from Stockholm says it is reported that Signor Mussolini will shortly visit the_ Eastern front to confer with Herr Hitler.

COAST ASSAULT

CANADIANS TRAIN IN

(8.0. W.) RUGBY, August 21. Several thousand troops of the Ist Canadian Division were recently put throueh a strenuous week of secret training in coast assault tactics Pff" paration for the tune when a British offensive strikes back at the Nazis in brigade group included infantry, engineers, artillery, machine-gun men, and signal units. It slipped quietly away from its camp area in southern England and travelled by tram and boat to the special training territory. The Canadians, aided by British Army and Navy officers, learned the trying technique of assault landings on beaches and within a few days were effecting landings in full battle kit. The deepest secrecy surrounded this drill. In the invasion preparations some Canadians were put into bluntnosed niotpr landing vessels, which were used six months ago in the Lofoten Island raid. Two infantry regiments went through the most strenuous drill with route marches of from 10 to 20 miles and practice in jumping from shipboard to small bobbing boats and effecting landings in coastal areas.