GERMANS MADE TO SUFFER

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 258, 28 July 1941, Page 7

GERMANS MADE TO SUFFER

Divisions Claimed Smashed RUSSIAN ATTACKS (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Received July 27, 1015. p.m.) LONDON, July 27. A Moscow communique states: “There was stubborn fighting yesterday in the Porkhov, Neval, Smolensk and Jitomir sectors. No important changes occurred. We destroyed two German infantry divisions in the Smolensk sector. - Several German planes approached Moscow yesterday morning and our fighters scattered them, destroying three. . ; In yesterday’s Soviet communique it was stated that Russian troops in the Smolensk area on July 25 annihilated an infantry division which had recently arrived and which took part in a big enemy offensive. Last night Moscow announced that the Bth German Armoured Division had been smashed after three days and nights of fierce fighting, during which German tanks were successfully ambushed. The enemy counterattacked after artillery preparation, but were met by terrific fire from the Russian troops, and were forced to flee while the Russians followed up with a new counter-attack. After three, days’ fighting the Germans abandoned a town which had been occupied, leaving much of their material behind. A German communique claims “local resistance by enemy rearguards in the Ukraine has been broken and the allied troops continue the pursuit of .the defeated enemy in spite.of unfavourable weather and difficult roads. Mopping-up by Rumanian units in Bessarabia is nearly completed. Communications have been re-established in Bessarabia and the Government is arranging the return of refugees. “Attacks by strong, fresh Russian forces west and south-west of Vysama [a town 90 miles east of Smolensk] failed with heavy enemy losses.” A “Times” correspondent on the German frontier says that the Russians are apparently not having the least difficulty about equipment. They have just sprung an unpleasant surprise for the Germans on the southern front by introducing a new ultra-modern fighter, the M.I.K. 101.

The latest Soviet communique also states:

“Russian fast motor-boats landed on and captured an island at the mouth of the Danube which the Rumanians had considered impregnable. Our coastal batteries and the landing party’s guns covered the landing, and a fierce fight lasted three hours.” “The struggle for the deliverance of Rumania’s soil has ended from the Carpathians to the sea,” says a Rumanian communique. “We are again masters of our former frontiers.”

A Helsinki communique claims that a Finnish attack launched across the north-eastern side of Lake Ladoga led to the recapture of the old Finnish frontier over an extensive area, and at some points the advance continued 25 miles heyond the frontier. There was heavy fighting round Tartu (central Estonia). The Red Army has destroyed 90 per cent, of the buildings in the town. An official announcement in Moscow alleges shocking atrocities by Germans in a vain attempt to extract information from Russian prisoners. Counter-Attacks Admitted.

The Official spokesman in Berlin . admitted on July 25 that the Russians launched counter-attacks against the German advance spearheads in the Smolensk and Mohilev areas. These attacks, he claimed, had been repulsed with heavy losses. The spokesman added that the gigantic battles on the Eastern Front were progressing successfully, with German troops bringing constantly increasing pressure against the Soviet flanks in, the Ukraine and Leningrad sectors. German pressure toward Kiev, he saitl, was gradually forcing the Soviet troops into an untenable position and the Germans were advancing on both sides of Lake Peipus, while the Finns were increasing the threat to the Murmansk railway. According to reports from Ankara, on July 25 Nazi divisions which had been isolated from infantry support and were relying on air-borne supplies, were in 'danger of annihilation from a strong Russian counter-attack on the vital central front. Fresh Soviet tank formations were reported to be driving into the unprotected flanks of advanced Nazi units. Countering German Plan. Military authorities in London pointed out that it is round Smolensk that the main German forces are massed,, in expectation of forcing a passage to Moscow. If the Russians are successful in forcing the invader back, they must automatically defeat the German plan for an encircling movement with a drive south from Leningrad, and, the simultaneous thrust northward from Kiev, particularly as the German offensive in the direction of iKev appears to have been halted", and the drive from the north to Leningrad appears to be making no substantial progress. The Russian counter-offensive is being directed by Marshal Timoshenko, who is in command on the central front. It s revealed that when the position became ominous,. Marshal Timoshenko was relieved of the command of the whole 1500-mile front in order to direct the campaign on the central front. Commentators outside Berlin do not appear to think that the Germans at present have much cause for satisfaction.

Moscow radio says that the German army is losing 38,000 men daily in killed, wounded, and missing.

With their second offensive blunted and bent, the .Germans, after live weeks of terrible lighting are still further from Moscow than they were from Paris when last year’s western blitzkrieg began. Despite the enormous losses in men and precious materials, the Germans are continuing pressure on the 1800-mile front, but have nowhere gained any decisive result.

Confirmation of the tremendous confusion with which the Germans must cope is given by the “Volkischer Beobachter’s" military correspondent, who says the gigantic battle on the Eastern Front seems to be splitting up into a series of individual battles with German and Soviet units fighting at great depth and separated from one another by enormous distances. He refers to the incredibly vast battle area between the Dnieper and Smolensk. “The front is here, there, everywhere, like a chessboard.” Armies’ Privations.

“The Times” correspondent on the German frontier says that stilling heat and short nights are allowing the combatants little rest or recuperation The men on both sides are showing signs of exhaustion, but the Germans are the greater sufferers because their frontline men cannot be relieved.

Even success increases the Germans’ difficulties and hardships, because the Russians are firing the forests and cornfields, blowing up the bridges and houses, and mining the roads. Every step is perilous for the Germans, who must be suspicious of every hollow,

tree and every bed of a stream which might be holding snipers. The Soviet Information Bureau specially mentions a guerrilla detachment which attacked enemy communications, fuel and ammunition columns, and then lured an important German unit into a swamp, where it was practically annihilated. American Consular officials who have arrived at Lisbon from Germany said there was general dissatisfaction in Germany with the slow progress of the Russian campaign, particularly after the revelations of the large German casualties. Latest Moscow Raid. Last night the Germans attempted another air raid on Moscow. A Soviet communique says that about 100 planes took part, but only some half a dozen succeeded in penetrating the outer defences and reaching the city. No military or industrial objectives were hit, but there were some casualties. Six ,of the raiders yere shot down. German planes also attempted to approach Moscow in daylight yesterday, but were intercepted, three being shot down. A Reuters message from Moscow says that two German reconnaissance planes trying to discover the secret of the city’s defences were shot down by the latest Russian fighter planes. It is .stated that more than 40 German aircraft have been shot down in raids over Moscow. Between July 20 and July 26 the Germans made 12 unsuccessful attempts to raid Leningrad, losing 41 planes at a cost of eight Russian planes. It was earlier officially stated in Moscow that two waves of enemy planes attempted to raid Moscow on the night of July 24. Only one machine reached Moscow. It dropped its 1 bombs at i-andom. It and another plane were shot down. Night fighters and anti-aircraft guns drove the others back westward. Night Fighters’ Feats. The Russian success in countering air raids on Moscow was described by M. Lozovsky, Assistant Commissar for Foreign Affairs. “Hitler will never see Moscow,” he declared. “The capital continues to lead its full-blooded life, in spite of German expectations that it would be a burning wreck after bombing raids. “The Germans send . hundreds of planes to bomb the city, but only 3 or 4 per cent, of them ever break through the barrages and the night fighters, and 10 to 11 per cent, of those that do get through are brought down. The Soviet night fighters not only meet the enemy planes far out from the city, but engage the bombers directly above Moscow, thus wrecking the plans of the German High Command.” M. Lozovsky added that a'greater share of the bag of Nazi planes belonged to the night fighters than to anti-aircraft defences. Moscow announced: “Verified data shows that our air force destroyed 5S enemv planes on July 23. We lost 19 planes. According to more recent information, five enemy planes were shot down during the air attack on Moscow on' the night of July 23-24. On the battlefields on July 24, according to detailed information received, 47 German planes were destroyed.”

.Last night’s Russian communique says that Soviet aircraft have been extensively supporting the land operations. Further raids have also been made on Rumanian oil refinery plants. Enemy shipping in the Danube has also been successfully attacked.

ONLY ROUTINE, SAYS GERMANY

Gas War Plans Admitted LONDON, July 25.

It is officially admitted in Berlin that plans for gas warfare have been issued to German commanders and are being studied “merely as a matter of routine, but if Russia is seeking to find an excuse for launching gas warfare Germany wjll give the right answer.” [A Moscow communique on July 23 stated: “In fighting near Pskov we captured parcels of secret documents, Including instructions for use of poison gas distributed by mines. The document proves that the Germans, realizing the unavoidable failure of the blitzkrieg, are preparing largescale gas attacks.”]