No Appreciable Developments

Northern Advocate, 17 September 1941, Page 6

No Appreciable Developments

(Rec. 3 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 16. The turmoil on the central front cannot be sorted out today from the Russian and German official reports, which do not reflect any appreciable developments, except on the northern edge of the Germans’ Smolensk wedge, where both sides are still disputing for the initiative. The main fact emerging from the communiques is that the Germans are pointing a new spearhead towards the distant Bologie. through the Valdai hills, having perhaps reached Toropots. Tlie position on the Dnieper front, southward of Kiev, at the moment, appears to be the most threatening for the Russians, although the direction of the main German Ukraine thrust is not yet clear. Odessa’s Defenders Meanwhile, the defenders of Odessa are competing with the defenders of Leningrad in their audacity and their striking power. The Tass Agency says the Russians forced the Rumanians around Odessa to retreat at several points, and recaptured a village of major strategic importance. Rumanian prisoners testified that their 11th Infantry Division was almost wiped out, and only a few men remain of some companies of the Third Infantry Division. Finnish correspondents report that Leningrad is blazing. The Finns’ Position A Finnish Legation spokesman, in a message from Washington, said that, as Finnish troops had almost reached a line which they would be able to defend in future, “it seems logical lotus to cease fighting. His statement came only a few hours after the Finnish Minister for Trade and Industry (M. Tanner) yesterday denied that Finland had begun peace talks with Russia.