RUSSIANS ATTACK ON LENINGRAD FRONT

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 106, 31 October 1941, Page 5

RUSSIANS ATTACK ON LENINGRAD FRONT

LONDON, October 30. Moscow, Rostov, and the Crimea are still the most critical sectors of the Russian battlefront. The Russian radio states that the three main danger points on the front are Volokolamsk, 70 miles north-west of Moscow; Naro Fominsk, on the Nara River, about 40 miles south-west of Moscow; and Tula, 100 miles south of the city. In each of these areas the defenders have had to give ground before heavy German attacks.

The Russians today report new German thrusts against Moscow, and the Germans admit fierce attacks by the Russians on the Leningrad front and crossings of the River Neva.

The Germans appear to have made no fresh progress in their drive towards Eostov.

The Germans today have saic nothing about the tremendous battle for Moscow. The Russians, on the other hand, mention two new threats and acknowledge that they are serious. One is a thrust in the direction of Volokolamsk, between Mojaisk and Kalinin. It is here thai the Russians admit they have had to yield some ground to massive assaults by enemy tanks. On the River Nara, south-west and south of Moscow, the battle is said to be fluctuating daily. The Russians say that, what they call the inhabitated point of "N" changed hands several times in the course of a day but eventually had to be abandoned to superior numbers of the enemy. The point mentioned is thought to be Naro Fominsk. A story that the Germans had captured this town was broadcast today by a neutral radio station, but on the upper reaches of the Nara our allies report the recapture of footholds on the south bank of the river. Referring to the fighting around Mojaisk, the "Pravda" reports an advance of five miles and also states that the Russians who crossed the River Nara dug themselves in on the German side of the river. Further to the south of Moscow the enemy seems to be developing a new drive in the direction of Orel against the left flank of the city's defence line. Moscow radio admits that this thrust is a danger to the big manufacturing centre of Tula, but says that the road leading to Tula is already littered with the wreckage of German tanks,' aircraft, and other equipment.

J The German communique today „" claimed that Field-Marshal Rundstedt's " forces in the Ukraine had reached the 1 upper course of the River Donets and 3 had got into the Crimea beyond the ; Perekop Isthmus. If this last claim is , true it means that the enemy can now " operate on a broader and less pre--1 carious front, but it is not believed in t London that there is any immediate , danger to the Russian Black Sea fleet. The Tass news agency says that Russian counter-attacks in the Rostov area have recovered strategic heights com- !. manding the route to Rostov. , A Berlin message describes the grim- . ly obstinate Russian resistance around Leningrad End says it has developed in the last few days into several sorties by the garrison on a big scale. Russian troops, the report adds, have again and again forced the crossing of the River Neva, with "hardly believable tenacity." The attacks were made under cover of darkness and were backed by very heavy artillery fire. At one point the fighting became so fierce and critical that even a Ger- j man regimental band had to pick up rifles and rush to the defence against the Soviet attack. The German story claims, of course, that eventually the Russians were driven back to the river. In connection with the fighting around Leningrad, the Italian news agency says that Russian troops made a surprise landing in the German rear under cover _of fog and occupied several important positions. Berlin says that the Soviet troops are now hardly capable of putting up *a lengthy resistance. Three weeks ago German officials repeated the claim they made in the middle of July—'that Russian resistance was more or less finished.