TANK BLUFF

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 31, 5 August 1941, Page 7

TANK BLUFF

NAZIS ACCUSE RUSSIANS

ONLY OLD MODELS USED IN

MANOEUVRES

NEW TYPES WITHHELD

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.)

(Rec. noon.) LONDON, August 4,

The German propaganda officials now angrily accuse M. Stalin of "the greatest tank bluff since the tank was introduced into warfare." The Germans declare that the Russians displayed only old-model tanks at their maneouvres and parades at which foreign military attaches were present.

In reporting this, the Stockholm correspondent of the "Daily Express" says the Germans declare that when the Russians appeared in battle they had types of tanks of which the German High Command had never even heard. At "the outbreak of war the Germans stated officially that the Russians had 9000 tanks. The Germans »now say that they have captured or destroyed 9000 tanks, but the Russians have many others left.

Hoping to achieve an early victory, the Germans at the outbreak of war threw in two or three times the numerical strength of the Russian forces stationed on the Russo-German frontier, says the Russian newspaper "Pravda." The German troops were vastly superior numerically to those employed in France, where 5000 first-line planes and 7500 tanks were used. These figures were almost doubled on the eastern front. "It is obvious," the "Pravda" declares, "that Hitler believed that after defeating Russia he would have no difficulty in compelling England and America to accept peace terms favouring Germany. The Soviet forces have thwarted the plans of Hitler's gang, which completely under-estimated the strength of the Red army and the Soviet people. The German troops have encountered tremendous difficulties, and, growing in strength and initiative, the Red army, has compelled them in some places to pass to the defensive. A fierce struggle is ahead, but Russia looks confidently to the future, because her resistance is growing daily and her counter-blows are gaining in strength and force."