German Division Routed, Russians Claim

Northern Advocate, 17 September 1941, Page 6

German Division Routed, Russians Claim

(Rec. 1 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 16. The Soviet News Agency declares •that a regiment of the German 13th. Infantry Division was annihilated in another sector, in which the Russians captured 250 Germans and much booty. These successes followed a series of counter attacks by a Soviet force threatened by encirclement. Further proof of Soviet resourcefulness is contained in a “Red Star’’ correspondent’s description of a surprise tank attack which staggertfd the Germans in the Leningrad area. From fortified heights overlooking a road and railway the Germans planned to drive the Russians into a “mud trap,” where incessant rain had converted the low-lying land into a swamp, but before the Germans were able to develop the plan Russian tanks, rumbling through specially cut lanes in a nearby forest, charged the German troops, evicting them from the heights and driving them into the very trap set for the Russians. Floundering in the swamps, the Germans became a target for Soviet artillery and mine-throwers. The whole of the German force was routed, and left 400 officers and men dead on the battlefield. From the German side also came reports testifying to the restlessness of the fighting in the Leningrad area, where, according to the German radio, violent house-to-house struggles preceded the capture of a town within the fortified zone.