NAZI COMPLAINT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20602, 1 November 1941, Page 5

NAZI COMPLAINT

MOSCOW DEFENCE THREE FEET OF SNOW BITTER CRIMEA BATTLE (Eleo. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.t (Reed. Nov. 1, 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, Oct. 31. A Moscow communique issued to-day states: “Fighting is proceeding in the directions of Volokalamsk, Majaisk, Maloyaroslavets and Tula.” Overnight reports say that Moscow is being subjected to most heavy attacks, there being at least four or five attempts at raids daily A war correspondent of the Moscow paper Pravda reports fierce fighting in the approaches to Tula, where the enemy succeeded in breaking through the Russian defences at a number o: places. The correspondent adds that the Russians * are fighting courageously and doggedly, but the enemy onslaught is being intensified. Tanks and aircraft are supporting his main blows on Tula. Workers are fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Red Army. Last night’s reports stated that the German operations in the Kalinin sector remained so furious that the Russians dare not weaken their own right wing to reinforce the left wing lest the Germans succeed where they hitherto have failed and push through Kalinin to extend the existing north-western arc, while the Tula offensive strives to get round the east to cut the main railways to Siberia.

Gigantic Operation The Stockholm correspondent of The Times says it is a gigantic operation and German success is far from probable, but General Zhukov’s already-mauled armies will be further tried to the utmost before they are able to say the attempt has been defeated. There are no indications that the Axis spearhead against Rostov has further advanced, but the present heavy fighting may be considered an early stage of an important pitched battle. The Stockholm correspondent of the Daily Express states that four massive German tank columns last night moved against Moscow over battlefields covered with at least 3ft. of snow. The Finns claim to be pushing northward from Lake Onega toward Sproka. Most Dangerous Thrust The most dangerous immediate German thrust in the drive for Moscow is probably that in the neighbourh'ood of Tula, according to informed opinion- in London. Tula, a town of some 270.000 inhabitants, lies just over 110 miles due south of Moscow on the main railway to Orel and Kharkov. The attack on Moscow is clearly being pressed with intensity. If the Tula drive continues It may possibly be regarded as an attempt to outflank Moscow. Most of the drive, however, appears to be from the Orel vicinity, about 200 miles south-west of Moscow, so that an’ enveloping movement would '* - imply a change of direction. 1 Meanwhile, winter is descending on the whole front and the fact is stressed by the London press in relation to the Germans’ grim struggle to forestall its onslaught. “Weather-god Giving Trouble.”'

The Berlin correspondent of the British United Press states that the Nazi spokesman, referring to the bad weather in the Moscow area; said: “The weather-god now seems either a Russian or a Jew. He is giving us plenty of trouble.” A message from Kuibyshev refers to a village beyond Taganrog which changed hands thrice in one day, but remained ,4n the possession of the Russians. The message also tells how the Germans in the Donetz Basin having captured the eastern bank of an unnamed river, moved under the cover of the morning mist to an important place where they tried to force a passage for an infantry regiment. The battle lasted, a whole day. Soviet cavalry and infantry finally forced back two German infantry regiments to the river, where many were drowned. The Kuibyshev City Council has forbidden entry to the city of any but those engaged in official business, Refugees are being evicted. One of Toughest Battles

Berlin to-day claims that the Russians are “in full flight in the Crimea.”

Describing the struggle in the Perekop Isthmus as one of the toughest battles of the war, German commentators claimed that their forces smashed through five lines of casements across a defensive zone of the ' great steppes. The Germans here employed almost every weapon known in warfare —dive-bombers, flamethrowers, grenadier rifles, bayonets, artillery, tanks and warships. A correspondent of The Times on the German frontier says the significance of the German penetration of the Crimea lies in the fact that Sebastopol must in the near future become a new focus of military operations. As long as it is able to draw support from the sea, Sebastopol, like Leningrad and Odessa, is expected to prove difficult to capture, if not impregnable, especially as the Russians will defend the city to the death, recognising that the fall of Sebastopol would irreparably cripple Russian freedom for naval action in the Black Sea. The Germans have no considerable naval forces in the Black Sea, but once in possession of the Crimean airports, they could unceasingly dive-bomb Batum and the Russian naval units. The supreme value of the Crimea to the Germans, however, would be its utility as a springboard for airborne troops against the Caucasus and pro- ' viding bridgeheads to reach the eastrn end of the Black Sea.