RUSSIANS REACH MOZHAISK

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23541, 20 January 1942, Page 5

RUSSIANS REACH MOZHAISK

♦ Battles in Streets PINCERS CLAWS BITE DEEPER (Received January 10, 11.10 p.m.) (U.P.A.) LONDON, January 19. Russian forces are now battling with the cream of the German forces in Mozhaisk, 65 miles west of Moscow and the last enemy stronghold on the approaches to the capital. The “Red Star” says that General Zhukov’s troops are fighting for Mozhaisk street by street, and as the Germans are forced to withdraw they are setting firt to the whole town. While the battle rages in Mozhaisk, the two claws of the pincers movement to the north and south of Mozhaisk are biting ever deeper into the so-called winter line of the Germans. The southern claw is now 24 miles west of Kaluga, on the road to Vyazma and Smolensk. The Russians have at last broken their silence about what is happening in the Crimea, The Kuibishev radio this ' morning said that the Kerch Peninsula had been completely cleared of the enemy, and that under terrific and persistent pressure the Germans were retreating westward towards Simferopol. It added that the Axis forces were relaxing their pressure on Sebastopol and that the Italians and Rumanians in that area were being forced back. An unconfirmed report from Berlin says that German forces have reoccupied Theodosia, on the southern coast of the Kerch Peninsula.

In a desperate effort to check the Russian advance, Hitler has thrown hundreds of dive-bombers and fighters into the battle. Official fignres given by the Russians show that in the week ended last Friday the Luftwaffe lost 128 aircraft, of which 103 were brought down in aerial combats.

During the same period the Russia# Air Force lost 43 aircraft. Since the Germans admitted yesterday that the defences of Kharkov were coming under Russian fire thw# has been no official news of the battle from Russian sources, but a Soviet war correspondent speaks of the re* pulse of a number of German coun* ter-attacks.

SOVIET ADVANCE UNCHECKED

Gains on Moscow Front 142 LOCALITIES RETAKEN (Received January 19, 7 p.m.) LONDON, January 18. The Russians in the last two days have occupied 142 inhabited points on the Moscow front. The M oscow radio says that the Germans have launched several counterattacks, but that the Russian advance is unchecked. The JKuibishev radio said that the Germans desperately attempted to stem the Russian advance on the north flank of the Moscow front, but they failed, and were obliged to withdraw westwards. An extremely violent battle, it added, occurred on the south flank of the central front, where the Germans attempted to split the Russian forces. The Russians surrounded the German force, which lost 400 killed. A Moscow communique reports successes round Kalinjn, north-west ot Moscow, where several populated centres have been reoccupied, the Germans leaving more than 1000 dead on the battlefield. In the battle for Mozhaisk, Russian forces have reached a point only 3(1 miles south-east of this important centre. They are also attacking from the east and north-west, and the northern arm of their giant pincers njovement is now closing in. It is reported from Stockholm that Russian forces have reached Vereye, 12 miles south of Mozhaisk. Hitler, from his headquarters at Smolensk, has called on his armies to make an all-out effort to stem the Russian advances. Military quarters in Berlin have declared that the German army in Russia Is falling back in order to avoid th« danger of another Verdun while preparing for a spring offensive. German Lines Broken A message from Stockholm says that Russian troops have broken through the German lines at a point south-easi of Leningrad and have occupied important positions. The Kuibishev radio says that the German SS Death's Head Division attempted to counter-attack in the Volkhov river region, and lost 500 men, after which the Russians captured strategic positions and rich booty. The Moscow newspaper “Izvestia” states that the Russians who are fighting their way forward to relieve Leningrad have broken through the German lines and recaptured a number ol villages. The Germans launched repeated but unsuccessful counter-at-tacks in an attempt to stem the Russian advance. * The Soviet Tass News Agency states that in operations in Russian Karelia the Finnish army has lost one-third of its personnel. The German and Finnish plans have collapsed, and the approaches to Murmansk and Kandalaksha have become a gigantic graveyard for the German pirates and their Finnish underlings. The Finns have lost 50.000 officers and men in the Petrozavodsk sector alone. On the southern front, the German communique mentions for the first time the threat to Kharkov, the great Ukrainian industrial centre. The Official German News Agency states that Lieutenant-General von Boddin, the leader of a reconnaissance unit, has been killed on the Eastern Front. Training of Air Crews. —A conference on air crew training methods has been arranged by (he Air Ministry. It will be held in London towards the end of January. The conference will be attended by representatives of the Dominions and also representatives ot the air forces of the United States, All those concerned with training in these different parts of the world will be brought into touch with operational staffs and they will be able to exchange views on the application of recent operational experience to training methods.—Rugby, January 18.

VOX REICHEXAU

SPECULATION CAUSED BY DEATH “SHOT BY A GESTAPO SQUAB” LONDON, January 18. The death of Marshal von ReiehenaU has been noted in the Sunday news* papers in London as much for the ex* traordinary manner in which the announcement was made as for the fact itself. The only reference to Marshal yon Reichenau’s death by the Rerlin wireless was the bald official announcement which stated that he died as a result of a stroke while being brought back to Germany after an illness at the Russian front. No estimate of the part he had played in the war, and no personal appreciation or any such biographical details as are customary were given. As a consequence considerable speculation as to the real cause of his death has arisen. The mystery naturally has been increased by the remarkable way in which the highest German generate have been disappearing since the war began. The press recalls that' 12 fieldrmafshals were created by Hitler after th# victory over France, and that of these

six have been dismissed, and now Mar» shal von Reichenau, the seventh, it dead. , Marshal von Brauchitsch has also been removed from his command, ana Marshal von Bock was reported last December to have been dismissed from the command of the Moscow front. General von Kleist is also reported to have been recalled in disgrace from the Russian front. Marshal von Reichenau’s death also recalls the mysterious death of General von Fritsch in the opening stag* of the Polish campaign. Marshal von Reichenau had the reputation of being one of the cruellest of German generals, and also probably one of the closest to Hitler. Unlike « majority of the senior German genr erals, he had almost from the beginning been a staunch Nazi Party member. He joined in 1927. The Soviet Tass News Agency quotes a Stockholm report stating that the death of Marshal von Reichenau has not surprised those in well-informed circles, who are in no doubt that Himmler's agents removed him and then hurriedly concocted the story about a stroke, which is all the more ridiculous because Marshal von Reichenau was famous in Germany for hit exceptional health and endurance. A secret anti-Nazi radio station, opera I :'.r» somewhere in Germany, declared mat Marshal von Reichenau'S death was the sequel to Moscow's publication of his order calling for more ruthless tactics in Russia. It is asserted that Hitler summoned Marshal von Reichenau. and shouted at him, saying that it was due to his negligence that the order had fallen into the hands of the enemy and that the order should have been transmitted orallv. „ . The station added: “Von Reichenau died a quarter of an hour later—shot by a Gestapo squad.’’ Air Raid Precautions in Cyprus.—All males in specified areas in Cyprus between the ages of 18 and 45 are to be resistereci for sir rsid precaution duties.—London, January IS.