Late News IMMENSE STRENGTH OF ODESSA

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 295, 10 September 1941, Page 8

Late News IMMENSE STRENGTH OF ODESSA

Citizen Army’s Defence EXPERT SUPERVISES FORTIFICATIONS (Received September 10, 1.50 a.in.) LONDON, September 9. Life at Odessa is described by, a Soviet war correspondent, M. F. Vilenski, who says that: some of the old people and the children have been evacuated, but the majority remain hurrying about their tasks, carrying spades, picks, and sandbags and strengthening gun positions. Arkady Khrenov, wlio was largely responsible for the destruction of Finland's Mannerheim “Line, has supervised the construction of several belts of fortifications with anti-tank obstacles and trenches. M. Vilenski does not claim that Odessa can bold out indefinitely, but he declares that it is an immensely strong fortress. The factories are producing roughly made armoured vehicles, which have inflicted heavy casualties on the Rumanians. The workshops arc repairing tanks salvaged from the front line and are making hundreds of thousands of mines. At least a million cleverly-contrived obstacles protect the landward approaches. Citizens, including 70,(MX) members of the Young Communist League, constitute the front line defence. Women every day carry bundles of food to their menfolk and then return to work in the city or bring more food from farms. Three daily papers are still being published, and the electricity is still functioning. The air-raid damage has so far been very slight, because. German planes cannot lie spared from the northern sector and most of the pilots are youngsters under 20.