Situation In Crimea

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 77, 27 September 1941, Page 9

Situation In Crimea

RUSSIANS EXPLODE VAST MINEFIELDS

LONDON, September 26.

More details about the German drive in the Crimea were given by a Russian spokesman, who says that the situation is well in hand. He revealed that the Germans began their attack at midnight on Wednesday. After a heavy artillery bombardment German tanks and mechanised infantry attacked the isthmus and numbers of parachutists were used. A second attack was launched at noon yesterday.

Soviet troops are reported to have waited behind vast minefields, and to have blown an entire German battalion into the air.

At Leningrad the Russians have beaten off attacks from three directions. A dispatch to the "Bed Star" says that as the result of fierce counter-attacks in the past few days the defenders of Leningrad have succeeded in moving' their lines forward at many points.

The Russian air force and the fleet air arm continue to strike at the Germans all along the front. Today's Moscow communique reports that on other sectors Russian and British fighter planes have been co-operating. During a few days on this sector 26 enemy planes were brought down in combat for the loss of one Russian fighter and one British fighter.

The Germans are making preparations for another weekend of highsounding claims. They now state that the number of Russian prisoners in the Kiev pocket is nearly half a million men. This is more than the number of men the Germans officially claim to have surrounded.

Moscow says that fierce fighting in the Kiev sector is continuing against superior German forces. It seems clear that the battle here is entering a decisive stage.

According to the Moscow newspaper "Isvestia," German and Rumanian forces besieging Odessa have suffered at least 50,000 casualties in' killed, wounded, and missing in the first fortnight of September. Odessa's stubborn fighting has forced the enemy to change his tactics. Now, instead of sending in masses of troops, the Axis forces are attacking in smaller groups. The Germans have brought up- considerable reinforcements in the past few days and are beginning an intense artillery and air bombardment of the city. A Budapest dispatch reports Russian