Fierce Fighting In Approaches

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23446, 29 September 1941, Page 5

Fierce Fighting In Approaches

M. Lozovsky said last night that the Germans had not gained a foothold in the island of Oesel. “The German navy has sustained such losses in its attempts with destroyers and U-boats to seize positions in the Baltic that it has not wished to risk the remnants of its fleet in big onslaughts. Only its small craft arc now active.” A message from Moscow says the German drive in the eastern Ukraine appears to have slowed down. It is not clear what the next German move will be. The bulk of the Russian troops at Kiev were evacuated in an organised manner, and in the final stages a rearguard action to cover the withdrawal of the Red Army regulars was entrusted to Civil Home Guards. Important pockets of resistance in parts of the German-occupied Ukraine include not only the Odessa area, but a substantia] region of the Kherson sector on the lowed Dnieper. The Tass Agency reports that the defence of Odessa is proceeding courageously. vigorously, and determinedly. Tanks and armoured vehicles are being assembled at an unprecedented speed and immediately rushed from the factories to the front line. The Leningrad radio, reporting the latest news about the fighting for the city, says the enemy tried to penetrate the Russian lines from the Finnish side of the defences, but was stopped by fire from close range. The fighting raged for two days, at the end of which the Finns had lost 600 killed and a great quantity of equipment. Colonel Bondarev’s unit, in co-oper-ation with artillery, killed at least 2000 Germans. It pierced the enemy’s lines, pursued the retreating forces, and reoccupied several villages. A determined effort by picked Gormans to break through at Staraya Russa was checked, reports the Moscow radio. The Germans were dislodged from a strategically important position and lost 1500 men in two days’ fighting. The Stockholm correspondent of _the "Daily Telegraph” says the Russians repulsed a large-scale attack at Oranienburg. The Germans now admit that Schluessclburg is in Russian hands, but they say that German and Finnish troops are steadily approaching it. According to the Soviet Army newspaper, “Red Star,” the 20th German Division was routed in one of the Stubbornest battles yet fought in the defence of Leningrad. The cap'fire of another village is also claimed. Meanwhile, the Moscow radio reports that fierce fighting continues on the approaches to the city. Fierce Resistance Reports from Moscow indicate that the battle for Leningrad is reaching an intensity not yet attained even in this, the fiercest of all wars, with the Russians taking over the initiative in various sectors, and resisting so furiously in others that the general initiative might become theirs any .day. The latest dispatches from the front disclose that at one point the Red Army recaptured four large villages and advanced five miles. The “Red Star,” describing an enemy division’s unsuccessful attack on one of the most important sectors on the Leningrad front, states that heavy artillery fire launched the action. Two battalions then charged, under the sover of a smoke screen, but were checked by the Russian gunfire and rolled back to where they were. Four hundred motor-cyclists rushed up and were met by artillery fire and a minefield. They retreated, but at least two infantry battalions tried a psychological attack, charging in dense rows. The attempt petered out, the Germans suffering heavy losses. The fighting has reached its highest pitch at the south-east and south-west approaches to the city, whore the Russians are reported to be attacking in mass formation alternating with skirmishing tactics. The Russians are also resorting to night attacks in an effort to retain the initiative, A dispatch to Vichy claims that after occupying Detsekote Seloe, 10 miles to the southwards of Leningrad, the Germans are launching attacks against the fortified heights overlooking Pulkova, Luftwaffe’s Losses Apart from stating that Russian troops engaged in ’ fighting with the enemy on the entire length of the front the Russian night communique issued yesterday reports evidence of the terrific losses being sustained by the Luftwaffe. The communique states that on Wednesday 118 German aeroplanes were destroyed, the Soviet losses being 29. A supplementary communique gives the following details about the annihilation of the I3lh and 15th Rumanian divisions near Odessa: “On September 22, our troops, in a combined thrust of infantry formations and marines, landed behind the enemy lines and dealt a surprise blow to the Rumanian forces near Odessa, The operations were supported by shelling from several units of the Black Sea fleet and by our air force. The Rumanians suffered heavy losses in men and material. Their total losses in dead, injured, and

GERMAN DRIVE ON CRIMEA (united press association—copyright.) (Received September 28, 11 p.m.) y LONDON, September 28, The latest Russian communique says that Russian forces continued to engage the enemy in heavy fighting along the whole front last night. It adds that in seven days the Russian army in an unnamed sector forced the Germans to retire from fortified positions leaving 2300 dead. Eighteen tanks and 41 vehicles were among the equipment destroyed. Declaring that he was confident that the Germans would never take Leningrad, M. Lozovsky, the Soviet spokesman, said last night that fierce battles were proceeding on the distant approaches to the city. He added that the Germans had lost uncounted thousands of men in their assault. Land communication with Leningrad was not interrupted. A Berlin spokesman said the Germans were now attacking Leningrad’s third defensive line, running from Peterhof to Trotsk and thence to the Neva, a statement which reveals the falsity of the German claim some days ago to be in the suburbs of the city. In the north, the Finns claim the capture of Kandalaksha, thus cutting the Russian lines to Murmansk, but this claim is not confirmed. Of the Crimea, M. Lozovsky said that although the Germans were making desperate efforts and the battle was raging fiercely, they had not set foot in the peninsula. M. Lozovsky described German claims to have captured hundreds of thousands of Russians in the Kiev sector as mere wishful thinking. He said fierce battles were continuing there. The Germans claim that with dead and wounded the Russian losses east of Kiev are more than 1,000,000 men. A broadcast from Odessa last night said the defenders had resumed the initiative and were pushing the enemy back to the north-west.

prisoners amount to 5000 to 6000, of whom at least 2000 were killed. Thirtynine guns, among them several longrange guns, six tanks, 9000 rifles, 110 machine-guns, 30 mortars. 4000 grenades, 15,000 land mines, and a great number of crates containing infantry ammunition and hand grenades were captured or destroyed. “In fighting in the Leningrad sector, our troops killed 500 officers and men and destroyed five German guns, six mortars, and numerous vehicles, and captured three enemy tanks. On September 24, 50 enemy aeroplanes were destroyed by bombs on an aerodrome in the western direction of the front and a number of ammunition dumps were blown up. In spite of heavy anti-aircraft fire, all our aeroplanes returned. In one sector of the south-western front, the staff of the battalion of the 137 th infantry regiment was wiped out.” A supplementary Russian communique issued at midday yesterday states:— "According to incomplete reports, on the approaches to Leningrad during the last few days wo destroyed more than 4000 German officers and men, 66 enemy aeroplanes, 34 tanks, more than 30 guns. 30 machine-guns, up to 100 motor vehicles, and a large number of rifles, automatic guns, and ammunition. “On September 25 the enemy tried to launch an offensive on one of the sectors of the Leningrad front, but was thrown back with heavy Josses. More than 200 bodies of German officers and men were left on the battlefield.” In the Ukraine. a German column operating from Kremenchug has reached Poltava, about half-way to Kharkov. Rain has been reported west of Kharkov—this being unusual for this time of the year. Attack on Crimea The attack on the Crimea continues, but there is no confirmation in London that the Germans have been using parachute troops. The position at present appears to be that the German force has cut the railway leading from the Crimea to Kharkov and reached the shores of the Sea of Azov. Reliable information regarding the attack against the Crimea is of the scantiest. The Russians merely say that the situation is in hand. It is known, however, states the Stockholm correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph,” that the attack against the Perekop Isthmus was made by massed panzer regiments after a terrific artillery bombardment. Motorised infantry followed. The first wave crumpled on a huge minefield before the Russian positions. The second wave made small penetrations of the Russian lines, but it was surrounded and destroyed. The second Russian lino and militia rounded up paratroops landing behind the Russian linos. , An attack was again launched at noon on Thursday, and is continuing. The fighting is of the fiercest, but the Germans have made no impression on the strongly-fortified Russian lines. German Promises A German spokesman’s promise that the capture of Leningrad could be expected by the end of next week is regarded in London as a piece of wishful thinking calculated to impress the German public with the precision ot the victorious advance of the Gorman armies. The “Manchester Guardian summarises earlier promises concerning the attack on Russia. “We are now nearing the end of September,” the newspaper says, ■ and if we go back to the first three weeks of July wc shall find that most of wna. the Germans were claiming then is not true yet. At the beginning of July, before the battle had been won, the High Command announced that the power of resistance of the Soviet army seems to have been broken. “On July 2, Swedish newspapers reported from Berlin that Murmansk had been captured. On July 12 the Germans issued a report that the routes to Moscow, Leningrad, and Kiev lay open. On July 15 the Berlin coirespondent of the Stockholm newspaper ’Tidningen’ reported that it was expected that the eastern campaign would be essentially completed by August 15. Every one of these claims was 1 false, except the one about Kiev, which was assuredly premature,” The Tass Agency says a Russian unit required to destroy a fuel depot in the path of the Germans bashed holes m tanks and allowed the petrol to run out while awaiting the withdrawal of the last Russian troops. The wreckers then withdrew. The Germans advanced in the petrol to which the Russians set fire with incendiary shells. Two battalions of Germans were incinerated. It i> revealed that the Russians removed between 60 and 70 submarines from Kronstadt to the Caspian Sea, whence they are going to the Black Sea by river canal. The remainder at Kronstadt are too large for the canals. Mr Ralph Ingersoll, editor of the New York newspaper who has arrived in Cairo, said well-informed quarters in Moscow declare that the Germans had suffered 1,000,000 casualties. Throughout the journey from

Moscow he saw no signs of refugee panic. The food situation in Russia was good and the soldiers’ equipment was sufficient. There wore no apparent signs of air raid damage in Moscow, which was surrounded by a 30-mile belt of anti-aircraft defences. The Russian transport was excellent. Masses of reserves could be seen on every hand. Italian war correspondents in Russia are sobering up after their exultation over Axis successes in the Ukraine. They admit that the Germans have far from conquered Leningrad’s external defences, and that the Russian air force has increased its numbers and its activities along the whole front. The correspondent of the "Giornale d’ltalia’’ says: "Who can say anything about the future of the Russian campaign? The future is unpredictable." Cruiser for Repair.—The United Slates Navy Department announces that the British cruiser H.M.S. Newcastle has arrived at Boston for repairs.—London, Sept. 27.