KEEPING POWER

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20636, 16 August 1941, Page 9

KEEPING POWER

RUSSIAN ARMIES LONG CAMPAIGN TRIALS OF WINTER HITLER RUSE UNMASKED (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Reed. Aug. 15, 3 p.m.) LONDON, Aug. 14. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says that when abandoned by the Russians bmolensk was no longer a practicable base for operations. The Germans have tended to dig in in this heavilycontested fluid sector. The invaders, under present conditions, would face a hopeless task if they tried to advance along the motor highway between Smolensk and Moscow. Because Lake flmen and the marshy country between Lake Ilmen and Leningrad are obstrucLons in the path to Leningrad the German thrust to Staraya Russa is clearly not aimed at the capture of Leningrad. The Germans evidently are trying to cut the Leningrad-Moscow railway, but unless the Germans achieve a striking success, they may be lured into difficult country which a few weeks hence will become almost impassable. The Germans so far have not occupied any place of the least importance in this "sector, but with the Genian, advances in the north and the cr-ve in the Ukraine undeniable, the Russians are passing through a difficult period, which everyone in Moscow anticipated for this month. The fighting powers of the Soviet armies, nevertheless, are still unimpaired. They are prepared for a long winter campaign. The announcement that Hitler has established his headquarters ‘‘somewhere in the Ukraine” is the first hint of the Fuehrer’s whereabouts since the outbreak of the Russian-German war. Seeming Last Effort The Stockholm correspondent of the Daily Telegraph says that this revelation is intended to persuade the outside world that the Ukraine offensive constitutes Germany’s decisive blow against Russia on which the invaders pin their hopes of victory, but the purpose of the announcement goes deeper. Even if the Germans reached Krivoirog it is certain that sooner or later General Rumdsted’s armies will be halted through the failure of supplies and also the necessity to repair the. battered and over-strained machines. When that situation is reached, the Germans hope to be able to launch new drives against Leningrad and Moscow. Meanwhile the German High Command aims to convince the Russians that the whole strength of the invaders is concentrated in a last desperate effort to break through in the Ukraine. In order to heighten the illusion Hitler’s headquarters were transferred to the southern front, while all propaganda reports strive to keep up the impression that victory is imminent. The Soviet leaders are fully awake to what they describe as a clumsy attempt to induce the Russians to weaken their other sectors by sending

troops southward.