WEST FROM MOJAISK

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 24, 29 January 1942, Page 7

WEST FROM MOJAISK

A TRAGIC PICTURE

(Rec. 10 a.m.)

RUGBY, Jan. 28,

Although no further place names are officially mentioned, Press reports in London continue to foreshadow big Russian gains in the Viazma-Smolensk area, where the Germans are threatfined from both flanks.

An agency correspondent with the Red army west of Mojaisk says that he travelled days with the advancing Red army past Borodino and Uvarovo to, the present battlefield. It was like passing through a land of flames. Beaten, shivering, and despairing Germans lay in villages and towns which had been ravaged by the forced retreat of the German troops. "Crows soared over the smouldering ruins and over the scattered bodies of killed Russians and Germans, half covered by snow, while isolated groups of men, women, and children looked in vain for their homes on returning from hiding in the forest. Along the roads marched the Red army men, with guns, ammunition, and field kitchens. They were warmly dressed and wore felt boots. They looked tough, and their morale was excellent.

"Planes patrolled overhead all day, but we did not see a single German aircraft. The only visible signs of German equipment were wrecked enemy tanks, lorries, armoured cars, and field guns, which had been left in the hasty retreat. They had been smashed and set on fire by the Germans. Another feature was the German cemeteries spreading along the way.

'"But there were also living Germans lingering here and there. As. a colonel who was conducting us round said, pointing to his revolver and to the automatic rifle of the man accompanying us,. 'We are prepared for any emergency. There are many groups of enemy soldiers still wandering in the forests, cut off from the main body of the retreating army.'

"German prisoners had not heard that Germany is at war with the United States, and their faces showed surprise at the news. They said they had suffered severely from cold."— 8.0. W.