Budenny Strengthens Kharkov’s Defences

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23444, 26 September 1941, Page 7

Budenny Strengthens Kharkov’s Defences

CLIMAX APPROACHES AT LENINGRAD

(united mess association—copyright.) Received September 25, 11.30 p.m.) LONDON, September 25. Except for comparatively slight references to fighting in a few vaguely defined areas, official sources both in Russia and Germany are tantalisingly silent about the sway of fortunes on the vast battle grounds, where the thunderous tumult drowns the cries of stricken thousands and the ghastly fury of modern warfare besmirches millions of acres so recently fruitful. The latest news does not reflect important territorial changes on any Russian front from the Arctic Sea to the Black Sea. All sources, even German, testify to the continued bravery of Marshal Voroshilov’s defence of Leningrad. Every German attack is followed by a Russian counter-attack, and Marshal Voroshilov’s forces outside the city continue to strike at the enemy’s flank and rear. The Germans have repeated their claim to have penetrated the suburbs, but this appears to refer to a small town 20 miles west of the city. Moscow does not admit the German claim. 4 The Stockholm correspondent of “The Times” says that Leningrad is showing no signs of cracking or yielding, but a permanent deadlock seems impossible. The present intensity of the fighting cannot continue indefinitely. One side must crack. The Germans’ chances are slightly favoured in Stockholm, because while the loss of Leningrad would merely be another very serious reverse for Russia, the Germans’ failure to capture the city would initiate the realisation that they are losing the whole war. The correspondent of “The Times” on the German frontier says that although Marshal Budenny has not succeeded in withdrawing all his encircled forces from the pocket east of Kiev, his soldiers continue to penetrate the German ring and rejoin the body building up its strength for the defence of Kharkov. A fierce battle is expected to develop for Kharkov, because the Russians attach the utmost importance to retaining this key armoury. German panzer units, he says, are now within 33 miles of Kharkov, and it is presumed that the main body is close behind, because the Germans are adhering to the tactics they used so successfully at Kiev, that : s, to keep their motorised infantry close enough behind the panzer units to prevent the Russians separating them as they did earlier in the War.

J: The Stockholm correspondent of "The Times” declares that the few small territorial gains which can be reported since Tuesday are all to the Russian advantage. An instance is t the northernmost sector, along the s smooth rocks leading to Murmansk, | where the Austrians and Germans I have suffered a fresh set-back. | Whether this set-back is sufficient | to cause the collapse of the whole 3 offensive against Murmansk it is not yet possible to judge, but certainly j conditions are each day becoming | more difficult for the invaders, as after s the equinox the days rapidly shorten I towards total darkness. | The “Red Star” says that the enemy In his second unsuccessful drive against Murmansk lost 2000 killed. The Germans participating in the offensive included three Alpine regiments transferred from Norway. p The Berlin radio’s military commen'i tator last. night admitted that the Russians are still counter-attacking in the Leningrad sector. "Soviet forces are constantly attacking from both inside and outside the German ring, but the attacks are fruitless,” he said. “Our troops are now fighting in the Immediate suburbs of Leningrad.” The expression, “the enemy is at the gates,” was used in a Russian broadcast last night, referring to the fight- \ ing round Leningrad. The Germans say that the fate of the city will be the same as that of Warsaw. - The Germans add that the fate of Leninj grad is sealed, and that catastrophic I conditions will soon develop. | The. “Red Star” reports that in a | battle throughout the day against the | German 126 th Infantry Division, Rus--3 Sian troops on the Leningrad front I recaptured an important point and | established themselves, in new, forti--3 fied positions. They repulsed all 1 counter-attacks. The battlefield was strewn with enemy dead. I A dispatch released from Moscow described a German set-back on the Dvina river. Large German forces, j Including artillery and tanks, forced ; their way across the upper stream of j the Dvina to the north of Smolensk. The Germans planned to break through the Russian front and develop an offensive, but the Red Army halted them. The Germans then began hastily to fortify captured positions, dug trenches, built earth and timber forts, put up four rows of barbed-wire entanglements, and also used tanks sunk in the ground as forts, and mined the main approaches to their defensive line. The Russian troops holding this sector were ordered to oust the enemy from the eastern bank. Eventually

they ejected the Germans from two strongly fortified villages, and the enemy, who had suffered terrific losses, fled across the river. The Russians followed them and heavily repulsed two counter-attacks. The whole battle lasted four days. Fierce fighting continues on the islands of Oesel and Dagoe, off the coast of Estonia. In the central sector Marshal Timoshenko is still keeping up his pressure, and guerrillas in the Minsk area are increasing their activities. In many places enemy supply lines are said to have been destroyed. Zaporozhe, on the lower Dnieper, is still in Russian hands, according to a message to Moscow from that town. It described a relentless German bombardment of the railway junction there, and added that Soviet railway workers without interruption continued to make up trains. Heavy rain had damaged the embankment, but the work went on under fire. The service was re-established and all trains were cleared from, the junction after a terrible night. The Tass News Agency reports that Russian cavalry, riding deeply in the enemy rear, found a German concen/ tration consisting of 400 armoured cars, tanks and lorries. The Russian cavalry commander immediately reported to the Air Force. Aeroplanes then raided the Germans at night. The morning revealed 800 Germans dead in eight bomb craters. Further south, a savage battle is raging at the mouth of the Dnieper river round Kherson. The Russians are holding on grimly. They are reported to nave counter-attacked with tank units successfully at several points, but the Germans, of course, say that these were repulsed. Near Odessa German and Rumanian troops are fighting to regain strategical positions from which they were driven by the Russians. Italian newspapers are still publishing frank admissions of Axis difficulties in Russia. "Regima Fascista” says; "No prisoners are taken on the Odessa front because of the fierceness of the fighting. Even the boys and girls of Odessa are in the front line. The Rumanians have had to make very heavy sacrifices. The Russian tactics have produced excellent results. They retire only to counter-attack.” "Corriere della Sera” reports that a German inventory of the tood stocks of the Kiev district has shown insufficient stocks even for civilians. The Russians removed their reserves two months ago. and the principle by which an army lives on the occupied country cannot be applied in Russia.