DESPERATE BATTLES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 196, 21 July 1941, Page 5

DESPERATE BATTLES

FIFTH WEEK OF WAR.

STEEP NAZI CLAIMS

(United Press Association —Copyright.) LONDON, July 20. With Hitler’s war against Russia entering 1 the fifth week, fierce battles continue to rage in the main sectors of the front. A Berlin claim on Saturday to have taken Novograd-Volynsk is not admitted in the Russian night communique, which declared that fighting continues in that sector.

However, the claim confirms all that

Moscow reported about the heavy fighting at this point, which is far behind the German advance lines. Nor have tile Russians yet admitted the loss of Smolensk. On the contrary, they imply that the armies are still fighting in

that sector. The Berlin radio reports that Smolensk was set on lire by the retreating Russians on Wednesday and .is still burning. It describes the city as a smoking scene of desolation and alleges that German soldiers brought hundreds of charred bodies from a gaol, also that the deputy-commissar of the city had ordered tho evacuation of women and children, but when this could not be effected lie and his family fled, leaving the city to its fate. The radio referred to endless streams of captured Russians being taken through streets strewn with wrecked tanks, guns and lorries.

Tho capture of Smolensk would seriously prejudice the Russian defence because it is a crucial railway junction and a great industrial centre.

It is estimated in Berlin (hat the Soviet Army still has 5,000,C00 men despite its enormous losses. Neutrals believe that Germany has 3,000,000 engaged, and that her allies have 800,000.

Trench warfare, with bayonet-fight- | ing in the mud, has developed on some fronts, according to the newspaper Izvestia. This development arose from Russians digging individual trenches to escape the German artillery and bombing. When German infantry appeared tho Russians rose and attacked with the bayonet. One battalion repulsed eight successive German assaults, another withstood the enemy for 20 hours, then counter-attacked and “liquidated” the Germans. Tho Daily Telegraph’s Stockholm correspondent says that there are persistent reports that General Guderian, the organising genius of Germany’s mechanised armies, has been killed on the Russian front. Those have heightened the anxiety which is spreading throughout Germany. A neutral diplomat said that General Guderian was killed near Luck and was probably a victim of guerrillas. BOMBING OF MOSCOW.

Reports from Stockholm say the Germans heavily bombed Moscow on Saturday. Unconfirmed reports stated that the Kremlin was laid in ruins and the Academy of Sciences and other cultural buildings were also destroyed, hut the Moscow radio was still broadcasting last night. Officials in Berlin said they had no knowledge of the raid.

Tiie Berlin radio summed up the position at the end of a mouth’s fighting thus: “The Stalin Line has been broken at all decisive points; secondly, Kishinev has been captured; thirdly, tlie Finnish Army is advancing oil both sides of Lake Ladoga; fourthly. the battles now in progress some hundred miles cast of the Stalin Line arc paving the way for decisive events.” This summary is in mild contrast with the High Command’s flamboyant statement a week ago. Tho German Nows Agency states that tho crossing of the Dneister reported in a Berlin communique on Saturday was effected in tho neighbourhood of Kamenet-Podolsk.

Aloseow, reporting on the feverish gathering in of the harvest throughout the country, estimates that by July 10 Russia had collected three times as much as in the corresponding period of last year. The collective farms in Georgia handed over six-lold while the rate of collection in the Crimea had enormously increased over previous records. Tho crops generally were heavier than in 1910 and the quality was excellent, especially those used for bread. A message from Bucharest says that tho whole of Rumania is celebrating the recovery of Bessarabia and Bukovina. The streets of Bucharest wore decorated with flags and portraits of Prince Aliehacl, General Antonescu, Hitler and Alussolini.

The Moscow radio reports that Fritz Mehnct, deputy-chief of tho Nazi Labour Front, has been killed in action. The Romo radio said that Kischsev (Bessarabia) has been in flames for three days. Efforts to quench the fires were unsuccessful. Tho Russians set fire to every house.

The Moscow radio says the CzcehoRussian agreement rings the deathknell for Hitler. The ancient friendship between the two peoples is now sealed to the common task of liberating Czechoslovakia.

The Soviet Ambassador (M. Maisky), in a niesasge to a function held in Bristol co celebrate the AngloSoviet Pact said:' “l have not the slightest doubt that final victory will bo ours. If British aid is given to tho Soviet Union, fully and quickly, then 1 am confident that the victory will come sooner and the sacrifices will bo small.”