RED ARMY HOLDS SOLIDLY

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23417, 26 August 1941, Page 7

RED ARMY HOLDS SOLIDLY

Russians Advance On Central Front

(UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION —COPYRIGHT.) (Received August 25, 11 p.m.) LONDON, August 25.

A great tank battle is raging along the approaches to Leningrad, but dispatches to Moscow claim that the Red Army is holding solidly, with the Russian Air Force playing a leading role in stemming the German thrusts. Meanwhile, Leningrad is preparing for a decisive battle, and all able-bodied men have been mobilised in Leningrad and the surrounding towns. The Stockholm correspondent of “The Times” says that while the German offensive against Leningrad is still checked, very fierce fighting continues. There is not a line to break or isolated zones to encircle, but a solid fortified region round Leningrad 50 miles deep, plentifully manned with well-equipped, trained, and determined troops.

The German High Command made no definite claims about the northern front yesterday, but German correspondents state that fighting is proceeding at Gatchina, 25 miles south of Leningrad. In the Smolensk area, on the central front, General Koniev is developing the big counter-attack which was launched a week ago, and he is striking the Germans heavily.

The Stockholm correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” says that General Koniev’s forces have checked the German thrust against the junction of Marshal Timoshenko’s and Marshal Budenny’s forces east nf Homel. The Germans are sparing no effort to close the gaps made by General Koniev’s forces. Tanks and motorised units on Saturday were hurled against recaptured positions but were driven back by artillery. On Saturday night General Koniev ordered his tanks to charge the last wave of German tanks, from which the crews jumped and fled. More than 70 tanks were destroyed and 700 officers and men were killed. Strong support was given by Russian aircraft. In the Ukraine a battle has developed in the direction of Dnepropetrovsk, the great industrial centre on the western bank of the Dnieper 200 miles from the Black Sea.

The latest Russian communique says that during last night stubborn fighting continued in the directions of Kexholm, on the Karelian Isthmus, Novgorod, 100 miles south of Leningrad, and Dnepropetrovsk, It adds that four German ships were sunk in the Baltic.

off a Russian attempt to land troops on the Estonian coast from the Gulf of Finland. It claimed that the Germans annihilated the boats and their crews, which put off from three Soviet ships.

Fighting continues in the Arctic north, but the Finns and Germans appear to be stalled well outside Murmansk.

A German communique issued yesterday repeats the claim to have captured Cherkasy, between Kiev and Dnepropetrovsk, and adds that "northwest of Kiev the pursuit of the beaten enemy towards and across the Dnieper continues. We defeated major Soviet forces south of Lake Ilmen and threw them back beyond the River Lovat, taking more than 10,000 prisoners.

Hospitals in Oslo and elsewhere have been cleared for the accommodation of German wounded from Finland, whose numbers are attracting attention. The number reached 20,000 at the end of July, and since has been steadily increasing. The Germans then had only five divisions in Finland, and this indicates the fierceness and costliness of the fighting, there. The Stockholm correspondent of “The Times” says that Marshal Timoshenko’s little-publicised counteroffensive, which is believed to be in the neighbourhood of Smolensk, continues after eight days to make steady progress. Altogether 19 villages have now been recaptured. The successes achieved have prompted Marshal Timoshenko to issue a special order of the day congratulating the commanders and troops.

"Our troops fighting in Estonia are advancing towards Tallinn in a concentrated attack; "The attack on both sides of Lake Ladoga by our Finnish allies continues to progress favourably." The Berlin radio admitted that the Russian bridgeheads on the western bank of the Dnieper were still holding out against German, Italian, and Hungarian troops. The "Red Star’’ says that a Soviet cavalry regiment recaptured an .unnamed town where the Germans had established their, divisional headquarters for a south-eastern sector, presumably within the Dnieper bend. The bodies of 700 Germans were left in the streets.

According to reports received in Moscow from this front, the Russian forces, under General Koniev, after routing a German infantry division and inflicting 3000 casualties, smashed reinforcements which were hastily brought up. The Russians recaptured further villages and destroyed 130 tanks, more than ,100 lorries, many guns, and a large quantity •of ammunition.

The “Red Star” says that communications between Leningrad and Moscow are functioning efficiently, and the railways are carrying troops and arms to the front with their usual regularity. The “Red Star” says that the sth German Tank Brigade, which was repulsed in the Smolensk region, lost 60 to 70 per cent, of its strength. The German panzer columns which raced to Novgorod ahead of the main forces have apparently left behind large pockets of Russians, for the Official German News Agency admits heavy fighting between Lake Peipus and Lake Ilmen, suggesting that part of Marshal Voroshilov’s forces is still battling at least 150 miles from Leningrad. - The agency claimed that German advanced forces had gained ground after penetrating a strongly fortified position, while elsewhere in the same sector a number of recently constructed military bridges—presumably across the river Plyusa, which runs through Narva—had been captured. ; Finnish- military circles say that the Finns have closed the southern and Eastern gaps round Wiipuri, and the Russians therefore can only be evacuated by sea. ' > The German radio quotes Finnish Reports that the have evacuated Kexholm, after destroying ninetenths of the town and blowing up all bridges. The Finns and Germans appear to be strenuously striving to reach the outskirts of Leningrad from the Karelian Isthmus, and the Finns are desperately attempting to break through from between Lake Ladoga and Lake OnegaThe Russians appear to be holding the German drive from the west, and bitter fighting continues near JOngisepp. Neither side has thrown light on the position in Estonia beyond the Berlin announcement that the Germans have launched land and air attacks against' Tallinn, ; iThe ' Offlcial^German- News Agency stated that the Germans had- beaten

The “Red Star” says that the German infantry division routed was the 161st, and it claims that General Koniev is continuing his advance. Military circles in London think that the German thrust through Homel, between Smolensk and Kiev, may be directed towards Moscow instead of towards Kiev; It is now believed that in the Ukraine Marshal Budenny has succeeded in thwarting the ambitious plan for the encircling of his armies and cutting off their retreat across the Dnieper, because even the exaggerated German claims of prisoners taken are unimpressive, and fighting goes on west of the Dnieper bend. Germany’s Ukrainian victory is therefore incomplete. The Berlin radio says that the Russians have blown up the Zaporozhe power-station. Unconfirmed reports last week spoke of the destruction by the Russians of the Dnieproges dam at Zaporozhe. Round Odessa, the Russians say they have routed the 15th Rumanian Infantry' Division, of which only 800 men escaped. There has been an improvement in the Russian positions here over the last three days. A message from Jerusalem says that 30,000 of the 40,000 Slovak soldiers sent tp the front by the Germans have been sent back. German-controlled Slovak newspapers declare that this is a result of lack of training in mechanised warfare,-but it is understood the real reason is that one complete Slovak regiment ha? deserted to the Russians and others have deserted whenever they had an opportunity. A Moscow message states that a captured German dispatch rider had a packet marked secret, in which was a letter reporting that many reservists had arrived at the front who are opposed to the war.