NAZI DRIVE AGAINST KIEV

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 6 August 1941, Page 6

NAZI DRIVE AGAINST KIEV

GREATLY SLOWED DOWN Continued Fighting in Smolensk Area RED ARMY REFUSES TO "LIE DOWN" (Rec. 12.55 p.m. ) London, Aug. 5. Ihe German pincer drive against Kiev appears to have been greatly slowed down if not fully checked. For the third successive day a Soviet communique announced fighting in the directions of Korosten and Byelaya Tserkov. The Berlin correspondents of Swedish newspapers suggest that the German High Command is specially emphasising the Ukraine drive in order to give the German public the impression that operations are terminating in the Smolensk area, making the same claims of successful encirclements in the Kiev region as were made in the early days of the drive against Smolensk. The German similarly promise enormous captures of men and material. The Russians, however, persistently refuse to “lie down in the Smolensk sector, where hostilities are covered by the Russian communique’s familiar phrase “continued fighting. It is not yet clear whether the switch of German attention from Smolensk to the south and to a lesser extent to the north indicates determination to develop fresh major drives in these areas or merely constitutes a diversion while the Germans are massing for a greater effort in the centre.

The Stockholm correspondent of "The Times" says Russian reference to Kholm suggests that the Russians have retired from Novorjev. Indeed, the chief or only reason for strongly defending Novorjev would be to hold the important railway running parallel to the Russian frontier. The region around Kholm is very marshy and should be easily defended against heavy vehicles which are scarcely likely to attempt to press far eastwards of this area. The Germans may therefore swing northwards and join ;n the general offensive against Leningrad or southwards towards Sokolniki Neval to augment the converging thrusts planned against Moscow. Nothing beyond the official German claims suggests that the situation around Smolensk has substantially changed. There is no evidence justifying the German reference to collapse, which is extremely unlikely.—U.P.A.