BIG SOVIET VICTORY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 10 September 1941, Page 5

BIG SOVIET VICTORY

END OF 26-DAY BATTLE Fighting in Central Sector EIGHT ENEMY DIVISIONS SMASHED

; (Rec. 1 1.50 a.m.) London, Sept. 9. The Russian night communique states that on Bth September the troops were engaged against the enemy along the entire front. !n the Smolensk direction, a 26 days’ battle concluded with the destruction of the 15th German infantry division, 17th motorised division, 10th tank division, 137th Austrian division, and 178th, 197th and 268th infantry divisions and one other, and with the capture of the town of Nelnia. The remaining enemy retreated in A westerly direction. Continuing his advance in the central sector Marshal Timoshenko in two days recaptured Fifty villages besides Yelnia. and recovered Fvn area of 250 square miles. Russian troops pushed 15 ; miles west of Yelnia. The Germans left in the fields and woods near ! Yelnia tens of thousands of buried and unburied officers and men and carried off an equal number of wounded. The remnants of (German forces are being chased westwards without respite. Moscow points out that the recapture of Yelnia is of secondary interest compared with the fact that eight German divisions were smashed during the struggle around the towns.

The “Pravda’s” special correspondent j ; at the front describes the great Ger- I i man retreat westward from Yelnia, de- 1 ' daring it is better describable as a flight in which the survivors of the j great battle fell back in panic and disorder. It adds that the Germans rushed to Yelnia after capturing Smolensk m July, strewing the entire dis- : trict with corpses in a desperate battle, believing that Yelnia was a good place from which to launch a final drive against Moscow The Germans since j July have not advanced a single step. I The Russian command began careful preparation to drive out the invaders by a calculated counter-attack, methodically and accurately, lor which , reason it was irresistible when launched. The tenth German tank division I was smashed within a few days, after which the Russians wiped out the fifI teenth division. The Germans assum- , ed the defensive as they held command- 1 i ing heights on which were established strong points, but the Russians inflict- ! led enormous casualties, particularly . with artillery. DI SO R 1) ERLY R EIRE AT ; The Germans brought up fresh divisions, disregarding the fact that the , 1 whole district was virtually a mincing . ! machine for the German regiments, i ' Battered divisions withdrew to the ' rear, but the Germans clung on to posi- 1 tions. The Russian counter-attack was intensified in the first days of September and by 4th September six infantry , divisions, also one motorised and one j S.S. division were smashed. An entire j German, formation amounting substantially to an army group, then found | itself almost surrounded. Its communi- j ! cations with the rear were maintained I through a neck scarcely eight kilo- j I metres wide, but this was constantly | I under Russian artillery fire and be- i j came carpeted with German dead. The , ! Germans finally wavered and began a ! disorderly retreat under cover of dark- 1 j ness on 4th September. abandoning great quantities of material. “Izvestia’s” special correspondent es- ; ; timates that the Germans lost between j ' 60 and 70 per cent, of their effectives ; in killed and wounded and prisoners j 1 during the 26-day battle.—U.P.A. AID TO RUSSIA British and American tanks and planes and other war material which are arriving through Iran for Russia’s southern front are de- ! scribed as hopelessly insufficient for the battles which are now being fought on a scale which the British people seem incapable ol comprehending. Sending this news from Stockholm to the “Daily Telegraph." its correspondent warns: "Unless .sufficient aid arj rives quickly Hitler may. through Ali lied dilatoriness, pull off the riskiest ; gamble in his career.” —U.P.A. SOVIET MID-DAY REPORT (Rec. 10 a.m.) Rugby, Sept. 9. The Soviet mid-day communique confines itself to the statement, “During the night of Bth-9th September our | troops continued to engage the enemy along the whole front.” No mention is j made of the German claims to have captured Shlusselburg, cast of Leningrad. and there is no confirmation of the accuracy of such claims in. London. —B.O. W.