TACTICS IN NORTH

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 199, 24 July 1941, Page 7

TACTICS IN NORTH

NAZI PINCER MOVE. PROGRESS APPARENT. (United Press Association —Copyright.) (Rec. 9 a.m.) RUGBY, July 23. With regard to the situation on the Russian front, it was felt in London to-day that generally there is a lull in activities. There is, however, fighting in the northern sector, where the Finns and Germans are attacking in the neighbourhood of Petrozavodsk, north-east of Lake Ladoga. Reports confirm that the Russians hero are making withdrawals. It may be that this effort by the Germans forms part of a piuccr movement with Leningrad as the ultimate object. This northern attack would operate in conjunction with the German thrust from the direction, of Esthonia. Petrozavodsk is on the LcningradMurmansk railway and on the southeast shore of Lake Onega. There is still no confirmation in London that Smolensk has fallen and there is nothing to suggest that the Germans have captured Kiev. In the Bessarabian sector it seems the Russians are still withdrawing. SMOLENSK "SURVIVES. MIDST OF GREAT STRIFE. (Rec. 12.30 p.m.) LONDON, July 23 Smolensk, which is the focal point of probably the big Ist and bloodiest battle ever waged b.T mechanised forces, is and lias always been in the Red Army’s hands, says a Reuter correspondent in a special message to-night from Moscow. “It is true the German advance units readied the outskirts of this key city some days ago, but the defenders drove them off. Soviet communiques have rightly continued to speak of ‘fighting in the direction of Smolensk.’ “The Russians have placed many obstacles on tho roads between Smolensk and Moscow. These obstacles are hampering the present Russian communications with the battlcfront, but they can he regarded as one reason why the Germans are beginning to realise that a frontal attack against Moscow is a hopeless task and why the Nazis are now trying to explain to tho German people that the High Command’s immediate objective is not Moscow but the destruction of the Soviet army. “The situation in the Leningrad region is more obscure. Tho Russians don’t believe the Germans can thrust either across the highly-fortified Karelian Isthmus, across which stands tlie old Mannerhcim Line, or around Lake Ladoga, with its difficult terrain cut by lakes and waterways. The danger to Leningrad lies possibly only from the south-west, but the main Russian forces in this region arc grimly holding on around Pskov. Tho Gormans there find themselves in a position nqt unlike thai> at Smolensk; furthermore, the whole region between Pskov and Leningrad and between Tallinn and Leningrad, along the coast, is largely made up of forests and marshes with few roads.” FIRE-FIGHTEIIS PRAISED. Members of the British mission in Moscow advising on fire-fighting praise the conduct of tlio Russian firemen and the members of the A.R.P. service j during tho raids on Moscow. It is j claimed they compared favourably with London’s. 1 The British United Press correspondent says a non-stop barrago kept the raiders in the second attack high. Tons of bombs were jettisoned in tho woods outside the capital. The Berlin radio declared Moscow I was a vast flaming sea after last nights’ raid. The Kremlin was hit several times, as well as administrative buildings.