FALL OF POLTAVA

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 6, 2 October 1941, Page 7

FALL OF POLTAVA

Leningrad Stronger Than Month Ago (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) LONDON, October 1. Marshal Bleucher, the Soviet commander in the Far East, has been secretly organizing in Siberia for the past year and training on skis a crack winter army of 500,000 men. He has now informed the Moscow Government and also the British military mission that his “ghost army” will be ready for .action early next month. Reporting this, the Stockholm correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” says that news of this army leaked out from German circles in Stockholm, who are greatly concerned with the effect the arrival of a fresh, powerful and efficient force will have on the winter battlefields. The Moscow spokesman, M. Lozovsky today stated that the Russian position in Leningrad was> better than a month ago. Fighting was proceeding day and night near the Crimea, but outside the peninsula, he said. An enormous battle in the Ukraine, with huge losses, was continuing, and it was impossible to go into details of the general position while it was in progress. The battle was mucn more mobile, with greater possibilities for movement. He added that the Germans’ hopes that a major part of the war would be settled after the fall of Kiev had been dashed to the ground. The Russians before evacuating Kiev destroyed everything that could be used against them and also evacuated half of the civilian population. A Soviet communique states that Poltava has been evacuated after stubborn fighting. Thus the enemy are within 88 miles of Kharkov, the great industrial and tank-producing centre. Poltava was once the scfene of Europe’s greatest wool fair, and it since became an important railway junction and agricultural centre, but the Nazis are not like’y to have found any equipment remaining there. Limited Russian gains on the central front were reported yesterday and today.

LONDON, September 30. The struggle continues with unabated violence on the blood-soaked approaches to Leningrad. There is some evidence in support of reports that the Russians, far from concentrating on the mere defence of Leningrad, are actually taking the initiative at several points. The “Ited Star” reports the recapture of the strategically important town of “B,” after a 12hour battle which culminated in tierce hand-to-hand fighting.

A Russian regiment approached the town and entrenched under cover ot darkness. Russian artillery on the next morning laid down an extensive barrage, after which tanks advanced and the infantry followed and stormed the defences. By noon the regiment had occupied the southern and western suburbs of the town, and other units had reached the north-eastern outskirts. The main Russian forces by 0 p.m. had forced a passage over an unnamed river, completed the recapture of the town, and drove the Germans back a significant distance from Leningrad. An entire German regiment was destroyed. The “Pravda” states that yesterday and today Russian troops recaptured a number of villages in the Leningrad sector. Moscow radio says that some of 'the enemy attacks were among the fiercest of the war. Marshal Timoshenko’s armies on the central front again attacked the enemy on the night of September 28, recapturing more villages, The Stockholm correspondent of “The Times 1 ” says Marshal Timoshenko’s counter-blows on the central front show a tendency to become more than of local importance, but it is still advisable not to over-estimate his power and intentions. Rattle Of Crimea. Silence in the news sense largely covers the tremendous commotion between the Gomel region and Crimea, while the Murmansk and Karelian fronts are similarly blanketed. News is anxiously awaited respecting reports from Stockholm to the effect that the Germans have launched a big panzer offensive against the Crimea from the village of Kalanchak which is to be followed up imminently by a great air-borne invasion of the Crimea. It is known that the Russians were warned in advance regarding the German plans, and are fully prepared to resist the onslaught. A neutral source states that the Crimea will be defended to the death in order to keep open the possibilities of a British landing against the German flank and rear once Field Marshal Rundstedt’s armies have been sufficiently bled and spreadeagled. Odessa, in a broadcast today, acknowledged greetings from Britain. It stated that Russian guerrilla fighters were ever stabbing at the rear of the enemy, capturing bridges, blowing up fords, and killing Fascists. Claims and Admissions. Berlin states that a large number of Russian pill-boxes on the northern front were stormed in the last two days. Berlin radio admitted that Russian counter-attacks were made yesterday between Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega and also on the southern part of the front, where fierce battles were fought. In one of the counter-attacks in the Ukraine a Russian advance was halted only after fierce hand-to-hand fighting and bayonet charges. A German communique says: "In the operations east of the Dnieper Italian troops exterminated strong enemy forces and took several thousand prisoners.” The Berlin correspondent of the Associated I’ress of Great Britain reports that, a Wilhelmstrasse commentator warned that there will be little news from the eastern front in the next few davs, “for certain reasons.” He added: “Certain importance can be attached to German Press statements that the German campaign on the eastern front will run into the winter.”