MOSCOW IN DANGER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 25 October 1941, Page 5

MOSCOW IN DANGER

ATTACK FOLLOWS ATTACK Russians Forced Back in Some Areas STREET FIGHTING IN KALININ (Rec . 9.’ a.m. London, Oct. 24 The Moscow “Pravda” in an article to-day says: “The situation is serious. The enemy is launching one attack after another and is still advancing. We need greater output. Our material losses have been very great. We must be prepared to see the streets of Moscow become the scene of violent fighting. This means that every window must become a firing point and every citizen must become a soldier. Moscow to-day is in danger.’’ The paper declares that the whole of Moscow must become a trap into which the Germans will put thousands of their heads. While the German onslaughts are being met with lerocious resistance in the Donetz Basin and Crimean zones the battle of Moscow rages with great violence. A Soviet communique says that the Germans, with a great concentration of Hre-power. forced the Russian troops back in some areas in the Mopaisk sector, due west of Moscow. Other attacks in this sector, and also in the nearby Malo aroslavet sector, were beaten off with heavy losses to the enemy. German commentators declared that Germans guns have reached several points about 35 miles from Moscow and their strength is increasing hourly. A Russian war correspondent says that many villages have changed hands several times in the battle west of Moscow. For eight days fierce fighting has been going on for Kalinin, in the streets of which obstacles and barricades have been erected while the squares of the city are furrowed with trenches, says the Moscow “Izvestia’s” correspondent. “The struggle goes on for every inch of the Soviet line, for every street and for every house. Some blocks of buildings have changed hands several times. Kalinin is only one of several places through which the Germans are attempting to force a way into Moscow'.*' Reuter’s correspondent in Kuibyshev says the latest reports show that the approaches to Moscow are completely blocked to the south and south-west of the city. Toward the end of last week and the beginning of this week Field-Marshal von Bock has unsparingly used tanks and mechanised infantry as a battering ram in an attempt to break through from Mojaisk and Malo-Yaroslavet. Simultaneously he has maintained pressure w r ith all types of arms in the Bryansk. Orel and Kalinin regions, seeking to find weak spots and keep the Soviet troops spread over several sectors. It is not yet known how General Khukov has managed to stave off the great frontal assault by immense columns of German tanks. Sunday was apparently a day of intense German assault, in ■which a series of frontal thrusts were co-ordinated with the reckless use of German planes in rain squalls in an attempt to smash the Russian rear.

While the defence in depth to the west and south-west of Moscow is achieving its purpose, the correspondent continues. Soviet tank formations aided by large reinforcements of civil guards were holding attacks in the Tula and Orel regions by two German tank divisions and also a number of infantry regiments. These forces were swung from one sector to another in attempts to break through. Tanks succeeded in getting well on the way to Tula, but were held up, after which they tried a flank attack, which cost the Germans 150 tanks, and they subsequently fell back to their original positions. Though the winter fast closing in and the fields of central Russia are covered with a thin carpet of snow, and the much-used roads are still deep in slush, there is still sufficient “bone - ’ in the ground to make cross-country traffic easy, the correspondent adds. There is little fresh light on the Donetz Basin and Crimean battles, but the Germans admit two heavy counterattacks on the Crimean isthmus. After a period of relative quietness, fighting has been renewed in the Novgorod sector, where, according to Moscow radio, the Germans are vainly making an effort to advance. The radio also declares that the Russians in the Leningrad sector broke through the German fortifications in one important area, advanced several miles and crossed an unnamed river. RUSSIAN REPORT A Russian communique states: “Our troops yesterday were engaged along the entire front. Particularly fierce fighting took place in the Majoisk and Malo-Yareslavez directions. Thirtyseven German planes were destroyed on 22nd October. We lost eleven. The same day 24 enemy planes were shot down near Moscow. Yesterday four enemy planes were shot down in the Moscow area. A German attack in the Etojaiva and Malo-Yaroslavetz direct.ons was repulsed with heavl losses to the enemy. The Russian air force is dealing heavy blows. One air force unit destroyed on 22nd October about 100 German tanks, over 250 lorries containing infantry and munitions, and routed a battalion of enemy infantry. On 22nd 23rd October several groups of German planes raided Moscow. The greater part of the enemy planes was destroyed by A.A. fire and fighters and was unable to reach the capital, but a number broke through and dropped bombs at random on dwelling houses. No industrial or military targets were damaged.”—U.P.A. and 8.0. W.