RUSSIAN SUCCESSES

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 July 1941, Page 7

RUSSIAN SUCCESSES

ENEMY THRUSTS HELD TANKS AND ARMS CAPTURED Air Force Superiority

LONDON, July 16.. Again the latest Russian communique shows that Germany’s second big assault is being stubbornly contested. The heaviest fighting yesterday again took place in the tnree zones mentioned in Russian communiques since the beginning of the week —in the north-west, where the German objective is Leningrad, in the west, where the objective is Moscow, and in the south-west, where the Ukraine is the objective. In the north-west, in the PskovPorkhov sector, the Russians say they surrounded enemy motorised and mechanised units and destroyed them section by section. The booty included a large number of tanks and lorries, and all kinds of arms. Here, the Russians say, those Germans who escaped were hurled back to the west. In the north of the western zone, the Russians say that their losses, as well as those of the Germans, were heavy yesterday in fierce clashes in the Vitebsk sector, where the .Germans are trying to develop the northern arm of a pincers movement on Smolensk. German motorised and mechanised units, the Russians declare, vainly tried to break through to the east. On the Ukrainian front, the Russians say they are fighting stubbornly and are holding enemy attempts to penetrate to the east in the Novograd Volynsk sector to join his tanks. These tanks, according to the Russians, are in a difficult position. Operations by the Russian Air Force yesterday* included attacks on mechanised and motorised units, on aircraft on the ground, on the Ploesti oil fields, warehouses at Sulina, and transports in the Tulcea district, in Rumania. , The communique seems to confirm the opinion of neutrals that the German offensive is not going according to plan. The Germans claim that they are forging ahead from Estonia towards Leningrad and moving along the east side of Lake Peipus; but it is in this area, in the Pskov-Porkhov sector, south-east of Lake Peipus, that the Russians claim to have thrown back the enemy. The Russian communique also says that in a battle over a Soviet aerodrome seven enemy bombers and 10 fighters were destroyed by fighters and anti-aircraft guns. Two Russian fighters were lost. A U-boat was destroyed while crossing a minefield m the ‘Gulf of Finland. The communique alleges that the knapsacks of captured Germans were filled with stolen gold and silver objects. One possessed eight gold watches, 12 wedding rings and other valuables stolen from churches.' The Russian crops are expected to be the richest in the Soviet’s history. Harvesting is going on at full speed throughout Russia, and every precaution has been taken to destroy every sheaf in occupied territories. Reports from Moscow state that the Russian Air Force has been active and bombed two river ports in the Danube delta. It is stated that yesterday the Red Air Force shot down 55 German aeroplanes and lost only 24 itself. GERMAN VERSION.

LONDON, July 16

The Official German News Agency claims that the advance towards Leningrad continues without a halt, rhe Germans captured the easternmost Stalin Line fortifications m the Vitebsk area, and conclusively frustrated Russian attempts to establish a defensive line behind the riddled Stalin Line in the Dnieper-Dvina area. The Russians rushed up mixed forces, including strong tank units, to close the gaps, but the dissolution of the Russian di visions continues. The Luftwaffe effectively bombed the road from Smolensk to Moscow and the railway network in that area. The Hungarians are advancing in south-western Ukraine, and Rumanian troops have reoccupied most of Bessarabia, and will soon regain the remainder. There is no confirmation of the Gei - man claim regarding Bessaraoia, and it appears from the evidence on both .sides that the Rumanians are still on the defensive in the Danube delta and at least in southern Bessarabia. The German High Command merely renorts that operations are progressing satisfactorily, but the Official German News Agency still reports fighting far in the rear of points claimed in the German advance, lhe agency reports the “very difficult capture” of a fort at the most eastern point of the Stalin Line, but a Swiss newspaper says that this particular fort is on the German side of the IronThree days ago the Germans claimed that they were at the gates of Kiev; but yesterday’s German claims state that fighting is going on 100 miles south-west~of the Ukrainian capital. The Soviet Embassy in London f.tates that the area claimed to be occupied by the Germans is only I pied in the immediate vicinity of then tanks. Fierce guerrilla warfare is going on in the German rear. NO IMPORTANT CHANGE. —RUGBY, July 16. A mid-day Russian communique states: In the. course of last night, fighting continued in the Pskov, 'Porkhov, Polotsk, and Vitebsk directions In other directions and sectois of the front, no major engagements took place. No substantial changes occurred in the position of our troops. During the night, our Air Foice acted against enemy motorised and mechanised troops, and continued the bombing of the Ploesti oilfields. Large fires broke out as a result of the bom bardment. —8.0.W. GERMAN VAGUE STORIES. (Rec. 1.40 p.m.) LONDON, July 16. Across battlefields heaped uith dead, and the blackened rums ox countless machines, the Russians ai~ vigorously maintaining their counterattacks on the outermost defence rings of Leningrad and Moscow. The fifth day of the Germans’ second offensive brought only one; specific claim to progress, the Berlin News Agency declaring a column flanking tne; southern end of Lake Peopus had reached a point near Byelaya, within 130 miles of Leningrad. Otherwise, the German propagandists continue hourly to annihilate the Soviet armed forces with colourful but vague stories which might almost be duplicates of those distributed last week, or earliel“The Times’s” Military Correspondent says: So far as is known in London, German propaganda has gone considerably further than German troons in the Kiev sector. It is undeniable that the general situation is tense.' The Germans are putting in a tremendous weight, employing all the artifices of their well-planned and thoroughly tested organisation. They have made greajt advances, and theie is no sign that progress is yet definitely halted. RIVAL CLAIMS. The only comment on the general situation from Berlin military spokesmen is that operations are developing very favourably. The Germans are thrusting deeply ito Russia. The significance of a German victory at Nai*-

iva would be that Russia would lose control of her Baltic bases. It is reported from Stockholm that the Ger- ' mans and Finns are preparing a pow- ' erful offensive against Hanko. Heavy artillery duels are proceeding. i A Russian communique-reports that , the battle continues in the Rogachev 1 sector. The Germans were pushed farther west of the Dnieper. ' Fifteen hundred Germans were killed or wounded when the Russians recaptured the town. A retreating tank battalion was surrounded and destroyed after, heavy fighting. Correspondents assert that despite the fury of the German hammerblows at the Narva and Karelian Isthmus sectors, the invaders have been unable to disorganise the Russians. In making the Narva thrust, the Germans are taking a seroius risk of a devastating attack from Russians in the Pskov, Smolensk, Bobruisk, and Novogradvolynsk sectors. The Berlin New Agency claims the destruction of a large concentration of Russian artillery in a bitter engagement southwards of Vitebsk. Motorised troops advancing towards Leningrad, intercepted a Russian supply column a mile-and-a-half long, and destroyed many vehicles. Stefani Agency (Rome) reports that Rumanian troops entered Kishinev, but there is no confirmation of this. The Basle nachricmten’s Berlin correspondent says: German war correspondents’ accounts of heavy Russian air attacks caused surprise, because the High Command led the people to believe that the Russian Air Force was smashed. The Russians claim to have achieved considerable success against the German tanks, with a new type of bomber equipped with cannon, firing an armour piercing shell. The latest bombing of Ploesti left the oilfield a huge sea of flames. Sulina Tullcea was also bombed.. In a naval engagement in the Baltic, the Germans claim that E-boats sank a Russian destroyer and severely damaged a cruiser. BRITISHESTIMATE. ~RUGBY, July 16. Competent military observers in London believe that the Germans, after nearly four weeks’ fighting on the Eastern Front, have achieved nothing that can be reckoned as final, or even of substantial advantage. rhe observers add that unless the Germans can go considerably funner, their onslaught will not be worth the expenditure in men and machines they have made. . “it is only fair to say there is deep admiration here for the Russians in the fight they have already put up, says one observer. HITLER-GOERING QUARREL "LONDON. July 16_. The “Daily Telegraph” quotes “Die Zeitung,” the German-language newspaper published in Britain, for the statement that the Moscow radio story that Reichmarshal Goering has quarrelled with Herr Hitler is correct. It adds that Reichmarshal Goering informed Herr Hitler that he would retire from the leadership of the Luftwaffe if Germany attacked Russia. Herr Hitler accepted the challenge, declaring that he would take over the Luftwaffe. For all practical purposes Field-Marshal Milch, who is directly responsible to Herr Hitler, novz commands the Luftwaffe.

DICTATORS TO MEET GENEVA, July 16. It is reported from Rome that Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini will meet shortly to discuss the Russian situation.