JOINT COMMAND UNNECESSARY

Evening Star, Issue 24003, 30 September 1941, Page 7

JOINT COMMAND UNNECESSARY

DEFENCE OF CAUCASUS AND IRAN OPINIONS OF GENERAL WAVELL TEHEEAJf, (Eec. 11.35 a.m.) Sept. 29. General Sir Archibald Wavell does not think it is necessary to create a joint British-Soviet command in the Caucasus or Iran, but plans are being worked out for the closest co-opera-tion. ' He expressed these views to a newsEaper correspondent in Teheran, where e and his staff are conferring with Russian officers. • He said he did not think the Germans could push round the shores of the Black Sea while the Soviet navy was still active, and the Soviet fleet could only be knocked out by taking all its bases or sending the Italian navy into the Black Sea. The Italians would have to force the Dardanelles or obtain Turkish consent to their passage, and there was certainly no sign that Turkey would consent. General Wavell said he was unlikely to visit Russia. General Wavell will discuss with the Russians defence of the Caucasus and joint defence of Iraq, Iran, and tho great oilwells. He is also expected to study the . arrangements now being made by British officers and civilian transport experts for sending supplies to tho Soviet Union. Plans are_ rapidly being drawn up to reorganise tho Iranian railway system and establish large-scale road transport. RED AIR FORGE GMD WORK SN VARIOUS FRONTS (British Official Wirelew.) (ißec.* 10.30 a.m.) RUGBY, Sept. 29. A supplementary Russian conimmiique states: “ On September 27 our troops inflicted heavy losses in one sector on the southern front to the second and fourth Rumanian brigades. Two thousand five hundred enemy soldiers and officers were killed. Incomplete figures show our troops in this fighting captured 300 soldiers, 47 guns, two tanks, arid many machine guns and rifles, as well as a large quantity of ammunition. Our troops are continuing to inflict losses on the enemy in this sector. In one sector on the northwest front our air force destroyed 47 motor cars, and three gun batteries. They also routed three enemy battalions. In another sector of the north-west front our air force destroyed 30 tanks' and 40 motor cars and routed a company of infantry. In one sector on the south-west front our air force destroyed 60 cars and several guns and machine guns. Ten enemy planes were shot down in the same sector. In a sector on the north-west front 500 Finnish soldiers have been killed during the last two days, Our troops captured three guns and 15 machine guns and ammunition.”

MOSCOW CONFERENCE DELEGATES RECEIVED BY SOVIET LEADERS ' STAGE SET FOR OPENING OF CONVERSATIONS LONDON, Sopt. 29. It is announced in Moscow that Lord Beaverbrook and Mr Harriman have arrived in Moscow, where all the members of the British and American delegations are ready to start the conference. Lord Beaverbrook and Mr Harriman were met by M. Vyshinsky, Vice-com-missar for Foreign Affairs, and by representatives of the Red Army, Navy, and Air staffs, and the British and American Embassies. Later they were received by M. Stalin in the presence of MM. Molotov and Litvinov. CONFERENCE OPENS (British Official Wireless.) (Eec. 10.30 a.m.) RUGBY, September 29. The Three-power Conference between the Soviet, Britain, and the United States opened this afternoon in Moscow with M. Molotov presiding. ‘LET US GET TO WORK" LONDON, Sept. 30. At the opening of the Moscow conference M. Molotov said he hoped the conference would be guided, by the high ideals expressed by President Roosevelt and Mr Churchill on August 15. “ Time is precious,” he concluded; “let us get to work.” Lord Beaverbrook, in reply, said Britain was in partnership with Russia, and the British delegates were at the conference to show they were ready to make the heaviest sacrifices to defeat the common enemy. They would do everything they could. Britain was greatly indebted to her American friends, and her present advantageous position in the war was largely due to them. “ We come with your ally Britain, said the American Spokesman, “ with the same object—to give you every assistance against the uncalled-for attack by Hitler and his cohorts. Wc pledge you the fullest possible support, to-day, to-morrow, ana as long as the struggle lasts, until ultimate victory comes.” Six committees were formed at once to discuss matters concerning the army, navy, aviation, transport, raw material, and medical supplies. GIGANTIC ENEMY FORGES MASSED OPPOSITE PEREKBP ISTHMUS LONDON, September 29. A, message from Ankara states that the Germans have massed gigantic forces opposite the Pcrckop Isthmus, and Rumanian labour battalions from the Odessa front are now enlarging aerodromes and building new ones on this front. German troops who were resting in Rumania have again come to the front in 50 large troop-carrying barges, which moved down thoDamibe past Galati, Four E-boats which were built at Galati, also moved down the Danube. Unconfirmed reports state that troop-carrying barges and torpedo boats which have been at Burgas and Varna have departed northward, hugging the coast and anchoring by day to avoid detection.