DESPERATE BATTLES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 194, 18 July 1941, Page 6

DESPERATE BATTLES

GERMANS APPROACH KIEV. FIGHTING IN SUBURBS. (United Press Association— Copyright) (Rec. 1.10 p.m.) LONDON, July 17. "Nine million men are facing each other along the whole ot tne Russian and German tront in the greatest battle of history," states a German communique. "The Russians have thrown in their last reserves in an attempt to stay the onslaught of the German army and its allies. Great successes are approaching." The Berlin News Agency claims that the Hermans have captured Smolensk and Polotsk; JOOO prisoners were captured west of .Smolensk, including the Chief of the General Staff. The agency also claims that the resistance ot the strong Russian rearguard units has been broken and that the German Panzer columns are advancing swiftly towards Moscow.

The Dailv Telegraph's Stockholm correspondent says battle stained unci .shot-pierced Panzer units are lighting furiously against desperate Russian resistance to attempt to gain a foothold on the outskirts of Kiev. Russian heavy tanks, including 150-tonners, have been thrown into the battle, which is raging in 11,0 suburban streets. Anti-tank and machine-gun lire is meeting the Germans from every window ami allev.

The Soviet military authorities say the occupation of Kiev would not lie a deadly blow, because it is 500 miles from the centre of the Ukraine S industrial and mineral wealth. Preparations to sabotage the wheat fields cast of Kiev, if necessary, aro complete. Tallinn, the capital of Esthonia, has been transformed into an interim in accordance with Stalin's orders to deprive the i.ivaders of any assistance. •Food, machinery, and property arc all going up in smoke and the 8"™°" has been ordered to hold out to the dentil in the concrete forts encircling the city. v _, , According to the Moscow radio. Soviet troops arc still firmly holding the Hanko Peninsula despite daylong and nightlong enemy artillery ami infantry attacks.

DANGEROUS PROBES. While the fact remains that a number of German armies are fighting mightily on Russian soil, the Panzer divisions are probing dangerously at Leningrad and Moscow. The latest despatches show the German claims are again exaggerated. The llu sians say Smolensk and Pskov are still in their hands. ~ . . ~ The spokesman at Berlin said the gigantic battles raging would probably decide the late ot the war. He admitted that the Russians were counterattacking hcrcely in the north, but claimed the attacks hail been crushed. The Times correspondent on the German frontier says the German authorities appear to be more optimistic than usual.

Neutral sources believe the Germans will claim a victorious conclusion to at least one of the three main thrusts towards Leningrad. Moscow, and Kiev before the weekend. It is considered Leningrad is the objective most likely to be attained.

The Svenwka Dagbladet's military correspondent, confirming the determined Soviet resistance about Leningrad, says the defence authorities are apparently still able to maintain the communications between the forces in Esthonia and those further cast. Nothing has been, heard tor some davs of the German and Finnish forces in'the Arctic sector. Apparently they are still wallowing ill the marshes some distance from Murmansk. Russian sources say there is no change in the position in Bessarabia, where the Germans claim to have captured Kishinev and to have advanced beyond it. The Times military correspondent says the Russian counter-attack against the southern wing of the German drive towards Moscow through Bobruisk appears to have had considerable success. lis force is probably not yet expended The Germans made the traditional reply by accentuating pressure else-where—-the Russian offensive on the northern wing through Lopcl. There is no reason to believe that the last of the Russian reserves have been thrown in and the German claim in this connection is absurd. Russia must still have very large resources available.

There are exceptionally few reports of the actual fighting. A German war correspondent describes the artificial io« used to protect infantrymen attacking the underground fortress before Kiev. It was necessary to dynamite the Russian earthworks, which were three storeys deep.