HUGE EFFORT BY NAZIS

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 51, 24 November 1941, Page 7

HUGE EFFORT BY NAZIS

Central Front COMPLETE DISREGARD OF LOSSES (British Official Wireless.) (Received November 23, 7.5 p.m.) LONDON, November 22. According to Moscow radio, the German forces engaged at the approaches to Moscow are probably the largest ever used there. Concentrations of tanks and infantry opened thb offensive in the Volbkalamsk area, resulting in a 24-hour battle with the Germans constantly throwing in fresh forces. Russian tanks retreated to new fortified lines on the highway which the Germans are trying to use for the advance. Russian countei -attacks checked the enemy. There was important fighting in the direction of Mojaisk throughout the night with the Axis using four divisions The enemy attacked incessantly, completely disregarding losses which amounted to 20 tanks and half a battalion of infantry in one sector alone. . . . . There have been no important developments in the Malo Yaroslavets sector, but there is bitter street fighting in the Tula sector. Soviet units, counter-attacking, met considerable German resistance at the railway station at Tula. At one place the Germans attacked with 30 tanks and lost 17 in two days’ fighting, and at another point they used 50 tanks. _ Despite the numerical superiority or the enemy, the Russian units repulsed the attacks and the German losses are described as very heavy. The third and fourth German tank divisions are being used in the battle with the 16<th infantry division and the “great German S.S. division.” The situation here is described as serious. Russian troops are offering heroic resistance and are counter-attacking'the enemy and inflicting heavy losses in men and material.

In the Mojaisk direction on Noimmher °0 the Germans concentrated their attacks on the flanks of the Russian defence lines, and threw in a great number of tanks and infantry, lhey attacked simultaneously at several points. Fierce fighting is still in pro°Tess. ° Moscow radio, reporting on the battle on November 21 stated that intensive fighting was still going on The enemy is bleeding, but is still attempt ing to break through to Moscow. In spite of numerical superiority in tanksthe Germans failed to break through S” Soviet Meece lines, but places the Soviet troops have retreated to newly-prepared defence positions and are strongly counter-attacking. Leningrad Front. a Russian gun battery on the Leningrad front annihilated 800 Germans un'd destroyed six enemy forts. A unit operating on the southern front wiped out 2000 German "ViKin o s. According to the Berlin col ’ dent of the Associated Press ot Great BHfiffi the Germans say that the Russians east of Leningrad are filing desperately to keep possession of the southern shore of Lake Ladoga. A decisive action is said to be developing on which will 'depend the maintenance of Leningrad’s communications with the rest of Russia. Hospitals in the Baltic States are already treating numerous Ger,man patients with frozen feet, and many hospitals in Poland are filled with such cases. The Germans are reducing their manpower in the front lines by withdrawing men to warmth in the rear. Russian Reserves. The Russian position regarding reserves has greatly improved as the- organizing of new armies by MaiMials Budenny ail'd Voroshilov has pioglNoCfurther fighting this winter in the Murmansk sector of the Eastern l<ront is anticipated in authoritative circles in London. The weather is stated to preclude such a possibility. Berlin officials claim that the son ot M. Molotov, the Soviet Foreign Minister, has been captured on the Russian front. . ..... Don Basin Activity.

The Stockholm correspondent of "The Times” reports that mixed Axis forces are showing greater activity in attempting to reaching the Donet» River in the vicinity of Voroshilovgrad. This is designed to support an envelopment of Rostov or to prepare for an attempt to cross the Don higher up. Tlie fighting here and nearer Rostov suggests that Marshal Timoshenko has managed to restore in great measuie llie cohesion and fighting strength ot Marshal Budenny’s ar,my. _ British tanks are now in operation on the Ukraine front.