SOUTH OF MOSCOW

Grey River Argus, 9 October 1941, Page 5

SOUTH OF MOSCOW

AND ALONG AZOV SEA Germans Advancing r Aus. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] LONDON, October 7. No amount of attention to Russian counter-attacks, however gallantly and efficiently carried 0u... can disguise the dangerous fact that the Germans are hitting ( with tremendous power. The Russian mid-day war communique merely repeats: "During the night, our forces engaged the enemy along the whole front.” The Germans are using tremendous power against Marshal Timoshenko’s powerfully-held positions on the central front, where panzer wedges are driving in, with continuous air-bombing support. Italian sources say that a great battle is raging along the Ugra River, between Viazma and Kaluga. Viazma is over 120 miles south-east of Moscow, and Kaluga is about 80 miles south of Moscow. There also is another great battle on the same river between Kaluga and Orel, the latter place being 100 miles south of Ore] “The Germans have thrown in everything they' possess,” said the “Red Star.” ' “They have brought from the occupied countries all the war material that can be spared, and their tank columns include many from Holland, Belgium and France.” Neither the Russians nor the Germans mention place-names in the movements either directly or indirectly aimed against Moscow. “The Times” correspondent on the German frontier adds that Marshal Budenny has launched a fierce coun-ter-attack from Kursk, aiming primarily to hold up the main German advance, and secondly to relieve the increasing pressure on Kharkov which is about 120 miles south of Kursk. Extremely fierce fighting is raging in a number of sectors on the central front, where the Germans have driven panzer wedges into the positions of the Red Army. A feature of the German claims on the central front is the tremendous damage inflicted by the Luftwaffe against the Russian communications. The German News Agency states that 21 trains were destroyed yesterday, also that direct hits derailed 110 trains laden with troops and supplies. “The Times” correspondent on the German frontier says: The Germans destroy Russian railway material without compunction, because it broad-gauged, and therefore is useless as booty, while most of the Russian rolling-stock is obsolete and cumbersome, and hence is of no value to the Germans. If the rolling-stock in the Kharkov area were completely knocked out. it would mean that the eight main traffic lines diverging from Kharkov would be put out of action. The Germans claim that these tactics have already cut off Marshal Budenny’s tank supply from Kharkov, forcing him to obtain renewals from distant sources. No further details have reached London of the progress of the German thru*' towards Moscow. Berlin military circles state: “The task of the German army is not to march to Moscow and hold a swastika party in Red Square, but rather to engage and destroy the Soviet armv. Whether this happens in the north, south, east, or west is a matter of complete indifference.” i ———— RUSSIAN REPORTS.

LONDON, October 7. The Soviet spokesman, M. Lozovsky, laconically observed. “Hitler has several hundred thousand extra men he wants buried.’’ According to the “Red Star,’’ the German losses in attacks in three sectors alone number more than 1000 killed, 198 tanks crippled, and 31 planes brought down. In one sector, General Goldin, after a long march, hurled a Red Army infantry unit, supported by tanks and aircraft, against the enemy concentration. The fierceness of the battle grew hourly. The Russians, armed with automatic weapons, broke through one of the wedges to a post where Soviet infantry, supported by tanks and artillery. had been resolutely counterattacking. This attack destroyed 38 enemy tanks and 31 planes. The Russians are nowhere showing the slightest reluctance to meet the German challenge. Even uncording to the Germans themselves, Russians are fiercely counter-attack-ing in areas where they have “completely collapsed.” Fierce Fighting SOUTH OF MOSCOW. RUSSIAN COMMENTS. (Rec. 11.20). LONDON, October 8. Russian forces are fighting fiercely at Viazma and at Bryansk. A German advance on Moscow, according to a report'from Moscow, has been ordered, with a direction that there shall be n.o -retreat by a single step. Bryansk, where fierce fighting is now progressing, was the point wher e General Guderian’s tank columns were hurled back by the Russians in earlier efforts to strike at Moscow. ' Viazma, the other battle centre, was a point where. Marshal Von Bock’s troops attempted to push through from Smolensk in the early stages of the campaign. The German push toward Moscow is interpreted in Moscow as meaning that the Germans are attempting to escape from Che threat of a winter campaign. ’ < The “Red Star” says: “The enemy fears the prospect of a long war. He is making a desperate effort to overcome our stubborn resistance. The Fascist Generals would like to decide the issue before' the beginning of the winter. The hopes ar e vain. However, we do not shut our eyes to their seriousness. LATEST RUSSIAN REPORT. , HEAVY GERMAN LOSSES (Rec. midnight). RUGBY. Oct. 8. A supplementary Russian communique stated: At Odessa last night heroic defenders inflicted serious losses »n German and Roumanian troop\S. Un to four battalions of Roumanian infantry and the 75ch. Infantry Regiment of the Twenty* seventh German Division were routed. Machineguns. many trench mortars, and a large quantity of ammunition, were captured. Our Air Force defending the approaches to Leningrad continue to inflict blows on enemv troops and concentrations. Buying a raid on a large enemv column, a group of our aircraft destroyed fifty-one motor vehicles, fifteen anti-aircraft artillery emplacements and a battery of heaw guns. During another successful raid five German armoured cars, nineteen lorries, two batteries, and six anti-

aircraft artillery emplacements were destroyed. In the course of ensuing air combat, seven Messerschmitts were brought down.” R.A.F. ’DROME ATTACKED. B O.W RUGBY, October 7. An Air Ministry communique states: Yesterday afternoon, a- squadron of enemy bombers, escorted by fighters, attacked the aerodrome used by the R.A.F. wing on the Russian front. The enemy were at once engaged and driven off by our fighters, who destroyed three JU 88 s without loss to- themselves. Nearly all the other enemy bombers were damaged, several so seriously that it is unlikely they reached the base. One aircraftman was slightly injured by a bomb fragment, but no damage was done to the aerodrome.