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RUSSIAN FRONTS BERLIN BOASTING "DECISIVE" MOVES RED ARMY DEFENCE (Elpc. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Rccd. Aug. 12, 1.45 p.m.) LONDON. Aug. 11. Seeking to build up the propaganda effect of the apparently considerable German progress in southern Ukraine, officials in Berlin to-day proclaimed that the present operations will be “decisive." They added that the intensified German offensive in the Ukraine did not imply a decrease of the invaders’ pressure on other fronts. Moscow and Leningrad are “seriously threatened," according to Berlin, but according to the correspondent of The Times on the German frontier Marshal Voroshilov is easily holding all fronts in the north, while the furious Smolensk battle apparently is no nearer conclusion, despite the German claims made days ago that the fighting had ended except for mopping-up. The correspondent points out that it is impossible, for lack of more precise information, to estimate the exact seriousness of the position in the southern Ukraine, but 'Marshal Budenny appears to be facing a situation demanding the exercise of all his famed manoeuvring skill. Kiev Positions Held The Kiev positions are still held tenaciously, but further south a German force pressed on to a point only 40 miles from Nikolaiev. The Germans clearly aim to encircle all the Red Army westward of the Dnieper, thus attempting to surround a territory twice as large as the great battlefield from Bialystock to Minsk. Marshal Budenny, for the first time, faces a real danger of isolation. The Berlin correspondent of the Stockholm paper Svenska Dagbladets quotes the German belief that the Russians have abandoned the idea of defence between the Dniester and the Dnieper and are now trying to concentrate troops on the eastern bank of the Dnieper. The German news agency declared: “The running battle in the southern Ukraine is gaining momentum as the forces of Germany and her allies approach the Black Sea.” It is learned in London that although the Russians are withdrawing in the southern Ukraine the retreat is being carried out in good order. It is generally accepted that the German forces have made substantial advances, seriously menacing Odessa. Stubborn Resistance The Daily Telegraph’s military writer, while believing that the Germans have created a big bulge in the Russian positions toward the southwest of Kiev, thinks that there is reason to hope that the Russians will repeat the stubborn resistance . with which they have held Kiev, thus keeping the invaders from the Black Sea. The writer points out that the Germans are following the usual tactics of living dangerously and offering chances for deadly counter-attacks. A message from Zurich says that military observers in Berlin admit the effort to reach a decision on two sectors of the Russian front is now at the peak. More divisions have been thrown into the battle. A decision must be reached within a week; otherwise a standstill in the offensive is inevitable. According to the Gothenburg newspaper Tandels Tidning the radio station at Tun is still transmitting, although it is some days since a German communique announced the capture of the town and the wireless station. Broadcasting on the usual wave length the announcer denied the German statements on the war situation. A Berlin communique claims that the pursuit of the retreating enemy m the Ukraine is progressing rapidly everywhere and that operations on other sectors are proceeding according to plan. The German news agency says that forces south of Lake Ilmen completely wiped out the Soviet 188th Division.
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Bibliographic details
Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20631, 12 August 1941, Page 6
Word Count
577VITAL PHASE Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20631, 12 August 1941, Page 6
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