ALL-OUT EFFORT

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 44, 20 August 1941, Page 7

ALL-OUT EFFORT

THE GERMAN DESIGN

CUTTING OFF SOVIET

SEA OUTLETS

(By Telcgrapli—Press Association—Copyrislit.) LONDON, August 19. According to Mr. Carl Sulzberger, correspondent of the "New York Times" in Moscow, powerful all-out attacks are being launched by the Germans in the Ukraine and Leningrad zones. They are throwing everything they have got into terrific drives which are designed to isolate the Soviet from the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea. It is increasingly clear that Marshal Budenny is succeeding in escaping from the trap arising from General Rundstedt's drive down the Bug to Nikolaiev, says the Stockholm correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph." Aided by heavy rain in the past four days, and also possessing temporary air superiority, Marshal Budenny is now transporting the greater part of his armies across the Dnieper. The Russians are covered- by a rearguard and are using collapsible boats and roughly-assembled rafts constructed from empty oil drums and trees, and also the bridges at Zaporozhe and Dnepropetrovsk (Ekaterinoslav). RUSSIAN RESERVES IN WAIT. Already Marshal Budenny has transported half of the total west Ukraine forces—between 300,000 and 400,000 men —across the river, with losses approximating 150,000. About 200,000 Russians are still fighting on the west bank of the river, and these forces have taken heavy toll of the Germans. Fresh Soviet armies from the Crimea and- Kharkov are waiting behind strongly-prepared positions, ready to repel any German attempt to penetrate the eastern Ukraine. The Berlin wireless claims that German forces have reached the Dnieper both above and below Dnepropetrovsk. The Stockholm correspondent of "The Times" says the situation at Kiev suggests that if Marshal Budenny possesses sufficient armoured units the Germans may themselves eventually be enveloped on a large scale. The Russians are still stubbornly holding positions not far distant from ByelayaTserkov and Iskorost. Though no general offensive is in progress against Kiev, local operations continue day and night. The front is only relatively stabilised pending a resumption of the German drive after replenishment of supplies or a Russian counter-offensive, if the Germans delay too long. THRUST FROM ESTONIA. Reports received in London state that the Germans are apparently intensifying the offensive towards Leningrad. The Russians' evacuation of Kingisenn indicates that Marshal Voroshilov's army is defending Leningrad against a new German thrust from Estonia and falling back on the city's outer defences just inside the old Soviet frontier, which the Germans have now crossed after eight weeks of stubborn fighting. The Italian news agency quoted re--1 ports from .Stockholm stating that the German troops after advancing on both sides of. Lake Peipus are now linked up, resulting in the Russians in Estonia being cut off from their eastern forces. The Stockholm correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph" says Finnish claims reveal that the new Finnish offensive north of Lake Ladoga is anything but a blitz offensive. The Finns are still fighting well inside the old frontier and are less than 50 miles from the starting point of their vaunted drive against Leningrad. PARACHUTISTS IN HELSINKI. The Helsinki correspondent of the Italian news agency says parachutists were dropped in Helsinki yesterday from several Russian transport planes. Some were dressed in Finnish uniforms and others were in civilian attire. The latter were mostly Estonians, and | stated that they had not previously flown or parachuted. All were rounded up by Finnish troops. Dispatches from Stockhom yesterday indicated that while the central sector remained relatively quiet, fierce fighting was occurring on the right and left ' flanks in the Smolensk zone. ; The Berlin radio admitted that German tank units were engaged in heavy j fighting south-east of Smolensk, and claimed the destruction of two Soviet divisions. The Swiss radio reports that Soviet planes bombed the Hungarian town of Komarom, near the Slovakian border. This is at least 600 miles from the nearest Russian airfield.