DNIEPER BATTLE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 49, 26 August 1941, Page 7

DNIEPER BATTLE

BEGUN IN EARNEST

GREAT TANK ACTION

LENINGRAD SECTOR

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) LONDON, August 24. The battle of the Dnieper seems to have begun in earnest. The Germans in the southern Ukraine have nowhere passed the barrier of this river. Round Odessa the Germans continue to sacrifice thousands of Rumanian lives in the great battle for the Black Sea port On the northern front a great tank battle was raging yesterday along the approaches to Leningrad, but dispatches to Moscow claimed that the Red army was holding on solidly, with the air force playing a leading role in stemming the German thrusts. Meanwhile, Leningrad is preparing for a decisive battle, and all ablebodied personnel nas been mobilised in Leningrad and the1 surrounding towns. Today little change has been reported in the Leningrad sector. Marshal Timoshenko's "little-publi-cised counter-offensive, which is believed to be in operation in the neighbourhood of Smolensk, continued yesterday after eight days of steady progress. Altogether 19 villages had been recaptured up to yesterday, andj the successes achieved prompted Mar- j shal Timoshenko to issue a special order of the day congratulating commanders and troops on a major defeat of the enemy. GERMAN THRUST CHECKED. The Stockholm correspondent of the j "Daily Telegraph" said that General Koniev's forces have checked the German thrust against the junction of the armies of Marshal Timoshenko and! Marshal Budenny east of Gomel. The Germans are sparing no effort to close the gaps made by General Koniev's forces, and German tanks and motorised units yesterday were hurled against the recaptured positions, but were driven back by artillery fire. Last night General Koniev ordered his tanks to charge against the last wave of German tanks, from which the crews' jumped and fled. Over 70 tanks were destroyed and 700 officers and men were killed. Strong support was given by Russian aircraft. Today General Koniev continued to develop his big counter-attack, and the latest messages irom Stockholm say that these operations are taking place around Smolensk and Gomel, cities 175 miles apart, and have the double purpose of relieving the drives on Leningrad and Kiev. ' :-. RUSSIAN COMMUNICATIONS. The Moscow "Red Star'\ says that the communications between Leningrad and Moscow are functioning efficiently, and the railways are carrying j troops and arms to the front with the usual regularity. I The Berlin radio confirms that the Russians have blown up the Dniepros- ' troy power station, and also claims that the Germans in this sector of the Ukraine have made a further advance ! towards Dnepropetrovsk. Odessa apparently continues to hold out strongly, and many bridgeheads across the lower Dnieper are also still in Russian hands, but the Berlin radio claims that they are now surrounded and that some have been overcome. I Describing the recent capture of the Black Sea port of Ochakov, the Berlin radio says that the Germans found j the streets protected by more than j 2000 mines, which were rendered harmless. The Stockholm correspondent of "The Times" says that while the German offensive against Leningrad .is still checked, very fierce fighting continues. There is no line to break and there are no isolated zones to encircle, but the solid and fortified region, 50 miles deep, around Leningrad is plentifully manned with well-equipped, well-trained, and determined troops. THE FINNISH FRONT. Finnish military authorities state that the Finns have closed the southern and eastern gaps round Viborg, and that the Russians therefore can only be evacuated by sea. The Russians do not mention the fighting on the Karelian Isthmus, but the Finns and Germans appear to be strenuously striving to reach the outskirts of Leningrad from this direction. The Finns are desperately attempting to break through the front between Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega. Fighting continues in the Arctic north, but the Finns and Germans appear to be still stalled well outside of Murmansk. Hospitals in Oslo and elsewhere in Norway have been cleared for the accommodation of German wounded from Finland, whose numbers are attracting attention. The number reached 20,000 by the end of July, and since it has been steadily increasing. The Germans then had only five divisions in Finland, indicating the fierce and costly nature of the fighting there.