Plans For Assault On The Crimea

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23447, 30 September 1941, Page 7

Plans For Assault On The Crimea

RUSSIAN SUCCESSES AT SEA (UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT.) (Received September 29, 11.20 p.m.) LONDON, September 29. The Germans have begun their thrust against Kharkov, the important industrial city of the Ukraine, says the Stockholm correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph.” German panzer forces, he says, are locked in battle with Marshal Budenny’s armies east of Poltava along the railway to Kharkov. Other reports say that the Germans are preparing for a combined land, sea, and air assault on the Crimea. The German offensive in the Crimea is said to be limited so far to a costly frontal attack across the isthmus at Perekop. It is believed in Berlin that the Germans will attempt to attack the defenders from the rear with air-borne troops. Moscow says that the German concentrations have reached gigantic proportions, but the Russians are confident that they can deal with the German blitzkrieg. The Russians* are, however, not taking any chances and are converting the Black Sea ports of Novorossiisk and Batum into large naval bases. In the central sector. Marshal Timoshenko is continuing his counter-attacks on an ever-widening front. Although reports from both Moscow and Berlin indicate that the fighting in the Leningrad area is as bitter as ever, there are no claims of material gains from either side. The battle here seems to have developed into a war of continual movement, with the Germans concentrating a considerable air strength against Leningrad. In the war at sea the Russians claim substantial successes; A communique issued in Moscow speaks of the sinking of two enemy transports of 8000 and 5000 tons by the Northern Fleet. It also says that ships of the Baltic Fleet and coastal batteries sank one cruiser and one destroyer, and heavily damaged two destroyers, and that a tanker of 6000 tons was destroyed in the Black Sea.

The Stockholm correspondent of the •Daily Telegraph” says that a strong Russian garrison still holds the western half of Oesel, off the Estonian coast, including the Taga Bay naval end air base. Although the Germans three days ego repeated their claims to be fighting in the suburbs of Leningrad, yesterday they were reported to be fighting 20 miles west and east of the city. A further stiffening of the defence of Leningrad is reported by the newspaper “Izvestia” under the title “Red Army counter-attacks on Leningrad front are growing in strength.” The newspaper described the Soviet drive as aiming to force back the Germans to the back of an unnamed river. The Russians have dislodged the enemy from three lines of fortified positions, in spite of very fierce resistance. A violent battle is continuing in this sector and also on the rest of the Leningrad front. Co-ordination by land, sea and air forces is a vital factor in the defence of Leningrad, and the defence is being strengthened by the population of the city and from “behind the enemy lines.” The morale of the Army, Navy and Air Force defending Leningrad is best expressed by a correspondent of the “Red Star” in Leningrad, who says: “We have checked the German advance. Now let us bleed him white and attack him incessantly, then drive him back.” The Germans admitted that their positions along the Bay of Kronstadt were being made difficult by Russian naval shelling but they claimed that Russian landings on the south-west shore of Lake Ladoga had been repulsed. The Russian drive in this region is evidently an attempt to recapture Schluesselburg on the Neva, 20 miles east of Leningrad. South of Lake Ilmen, says the “Red Star,” the Russians have pierced German fortifications at Staraya Russa and recaptured five villages. Moscow reports new success for MarIhal Timoshenko’s army in the Elnya lector. Advancing on a 10-mile front his

forces forced the River Desna, straightened out a bulge in the line, and then pushed the front forward to another river designated as “S.” As a result of this action 10 more villages were recaptured. A broadcast from Odessa or. Saturday night said the defenders had’ resumed the initiative and / were pushing the enemy back to the north-west. The Germans claim to have routed Russian forces 50 miles west of Nikolaev, which is a long way behind the claimed German advance. A message from Ankara says that Rumanian labour battalions from the Odessa front are now enlarging aerodromes and building new ones on this front. German troops who were resting in Rumania have again gone to the front. Fifty large troop-carrying barges have moved down the Danube past Galati and four E-boats which were built at Galati have also moved down the Danube. There is an unconfirmed report that troop-carrying barges and torpedoboats, which have been at the Bulgarian ports of Burgas and Varna have departed northward, hugging the coast and anchoring by day to avoid detection. The latest Russian communique says that during last night Russian forces continued to engage the enemy along the whole front. The 2nd and 4th Rumanian Infantry Brigades, it adds, have been smashed. An earlier communique said that on Friday the Germans lost 98 aeroplanes and the Russians 31. Two German reconnaissance aircraft were destroyed over Moscow on Saturday and two bombers were shot down yesterday. The latest German communique does* not metnion land fighting but says that heavy army batteries effectively shelled Soviet warships in Kronstadt harbour and in the coastal area, one cruiser being set on fire. The German Air Force attacked trains and railway works afKharkov, in the Moscow area and near the source of the Volga. A Finnish communique records the capture of Rajsa, 25 miles south of Petrovskoie. The Finns have raided the railway near Petrovskoie.

AID TO EUSSIA Criticism in British Newspapers CHURCHILL TO MAKE STATEMENT LONDON, September 28. British writers on military affairs continue to urge that more aid should be given Russia. Mr John Gordon, in the Sunday Express,” says that Britain should send Russia as many bombers as she can fly there. "Surely the place for our bombers is where they can Kill tne most Germans, create the greatest chaos, and cause the most devastation. That place is now the Russian front, he declares. . ‘‘Why we keep bombers here sinking an odd ship in the Channel and making holes in French airfields which can be refilled in a few hours, or taking potshots at empty bathing huts on Channel beaches is beyond me.” Mr J. L. Garvin, writing in the “Observer,” says that the depth and weight of the Nazi mechanised _ invasion in the Ukraine now constitute the worst danger to the life and soul of the Russian people. The British and American peoples must expect an even more formidable struggle. ‘‘Lot them put their backs into it and quit moaning about an ‘automatic victory’ some fine time in the remote future.” he writes. “Before victory can be won, they must earn it. They must sweat for it just as Russia is shedding blood for it. They must grapple as never before tvith the magnitude of their industrial task —the giant job of out-producing Hitler in this machine-power war." Britain must far exceed her present war production if effective aid is to be given to Russia, said the general secretary of the Trade Union Congress .(Sir Walter Citrine). In spite of stupendous efforts the ,3?ntish Army and the Royal Air Force were still under equipped, and It was to imperative necessity that if rfaaxitfium aid was to be given to Russia, there must be a maximum productive •Sort. I%e British air wing now serving |a Russia was but _ microscopic part •f the help Britain should be able to Kd. Some said that the way for this p lay through Germany, but there a great many road blocks and

CONFERENCE IN MOSCOW BRITISH AND U.S. MISSIONS LONDON, September 28. M. Stalin was present at a reception to the heads of the British and United States missions in Moscow to-day. Lord Beaverbrook and Mr W. Averell Harriman received a spontaneous welcome. M. Molotov, the Foreign Commissar, and members of the Russian delegation were present. A band played the British, United States, and Soviet national anthems. . Lord Beaverbrook said that it was hoped to finish the conference within a week The missions were in Moscow, he added, to find out as quickly as possible Russia’s immediate and future war needs. CREW OF GRAF SPEE 128 MEMBERS ESCAPE FROM CAMPS (Received September 29, 10 p.m.) BUENOS AIRES, September 28.In the 21 months since the German pocket battleship Graf Spee was sunk, 128 of the 1055 interned members of the crew have escaped from concentration camps, according to information given to the Argentine Senate by the President (Dr. Ramon Castillo).

he, for one, would agree with Britain’s military advisers if they had told the Cabinet that to engage the Germans on a second front would mean the unnecessary sacrifice of thousands of lives. . , A British Official Wireless message says that when Parliament reassembles shortly Mr Churchill is expected to make a full statement pn the Russian situation at the first sitting, and to indicate What coihpetpht observers in London believe to be the very considerable scale upon which Britain has been already supplying Russia with materials and commodities.