German Advances In Russia

Evening Star, Issue 24005, 2 October 1941, Page 7

German Advances In Russia

ON LIP OF DONETZ BASIN More Progress Towards Crimea (British Official Wireless.) Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright (Rec. 10 a.m.) RUGBY, October 1. The latest information regarding the Russian campaign shows that heavy fighting is continuing along the whole front. In the north the Finns claim the capture of Petrozavodsk on the Leningrad-Murmansk railway. . . The abandonment of Poltava by the Russians brings the Germans further along the road from Kiev to Kharkov, and they are now on the western edge of the Donetz basin. Although there are no major obstacles like a large river or a mountain barrier in the way of the advance, the country is likely to prove very difficult. In the Crimea the German attack has reached a point about seven miles south of Perekop, which constitutes an advance some way along the isthmus, but the Germans are still in the bottleneck. A Russian communique states: “During last night our troops engaged the enemy all along the front.” Huge Losses At Leningrad In the titanic battle for Leningrad the Germans have already lost at least 100,000 killed and wounded and captured in the south and south-west approaches alone, according to the first detailed review of the battle in the ‘Red Star.’ These figures exclude heavy German losses in Estonia and towards Novgorod The Germans also lost in the Leningrad battle 400 tanks, 400 mine-throwers, 846 planes, and 200 field guns. The divisions said to have been routed or defeated with very heavy losses are : —one S.S. division, one motorised division, the eighth tank division, the 122nd, the 191st, and 269th infantry divisions.