RUSSIAN FRONTS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20629, 9 August 1941, Page 5

RUSSIAN FRONTS

NAZIS PAY DEARLY RED ARMY SACRIFICES RESISTANCE MAINTAINED (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Reed. Aug. 9. 10.30 a.m.) LONDON, Aug. 8. Information reaching London is that there has been no change in the central and northern parts of the Russian front, but in the Ukraine there are indications that the German forces are making more pi-ogress south of Kiev in a south-easterly direction from Byelala-Tserkov, parallel with the right bank of the Dnieper. The main railway communication between Kiev and Odessa has already been cut and the new move, which is regarded as a serious threat to the remaining railway running north from Odessa, appears to be aimed at cutting off Odessa and Nikolaev. The loss ojthese places, however, would not have any serious effect on the Russian position, whether on land or in the Black Sea. There is no confirmation of the German claim to have surrounded Kiev, and it is pointed out that the Dnieper is a very serious obstacle for tanks, being a mile wide below Kiev, with very few bridges. A Moscow communique states: “Our troops last night continued the fight on the Estonian front and in the regions of Kakisalmi, Smolensk and Byelaya-Tserkov. There were no major operations elsewhere. “The Soviet Air Force, co-operating with the land forces, dealt heavy blows in various zones of battle and in the rear against enemy infantry and the enemy air force on their aerodromes.”

German Tanks Destroyed A Moscow message says that 200 German tanks were destroyed when, according to dispatches from the front last night, Russians from three directions attacked a column of the Bth Tank Division stretching several miles along a road. . French diplomats who have just arrived in Stockholm from Moscow state that 40 divisions of fresh Russian troops, with a surprising quantity of modern equipment, are stationed between Smolensk and Moscow. . The Daily Telegraphs Stockholm correspondent says the German claim to have driven a wedge to Kiev at Jitomir is correct, but the Russians signally repulsed the German tanks whicn reached the gates of Kiev unci delivered six assaults against the City’s immediate defences. Both the subsequent flanking attacks at BY®' laya-Tserkov and Korosten were held up. Marshal Budenny still has huge armies intact, with large reserves, ready to oppose any threat to Odessa. The Moscow radio to-day announced that in the Russian campaign the Germans had lost 1,500,000 men killed, wounded and taken prisoner, against Russia’s 600,000, and that the Germans had lost 6000 tanks against Russia s 5000, and 6000 aircraft, compared with Russia’s 4000. German “Fairy Tales”

A supplementary communique issued in Moscow and headed “Fairy Tales of the German High Command, declares that the German Armys heavy losses and the Tied Armys ever-growing resistance against the invaders has disastrously affected not only the spirit and morale of the German Army, but also the spirit and morale of the whole of the German people. The supplementary communique adds: “While concealing from the .German people the .German Army’s real losses, the German High Command feeds them on absurd lies, tike its fantastic figures in its communique issued on Wednesday claiming that since the outbreak of hostilities 895,000 Russians had been taken prisoner and 13,145 armoured fighting vehicles, 10,388 guns, and 9082 planes captured and destroyed, and that the Russian losses in killed and wounded far exceeded the number of prisoners. “The German High Command also endeavours to explain the heavy German losses and the protractedness of the campaign by creating a legend about the existence ■ of a powerful fortified Stalin Line, whereas no special Stalin Line exists.” “Mendacious Estimates” The supplementary communique then goes on to list the Russian and German losses, as given in the earlier radio announcement, and adds that the Germans have lost 8000 guns against Russia’s 7000. , "The Soviet, of course, created fortified points wherever necessary, but these were not constituted as a special Stalin Line,” continues the supplementary communique. “The Red Army and population are transforming every inch of their native land into a fortified zone. Nazi propaganda has surpassed itself with its fantastic figutes of Soviet losses. The technique of these mendacious estimates is that the Nazis, after seizing any Soviet area, mobilise by force the peasants and other workers and women for hard labour, or drive them to the rear and then declare them to be war prisoners. Thus the Germans fabricate the legend about the number of Red Army men taken prisoner. “The German High Command is forced to issue these obviously false reports as a result of the failure of its blitzkrieg and the failure of its bandit designs to secure grain, cattle, factories, and reserves of raw material.”