NEARER TO MOSCOW

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 27 October 1941, Page 5

NEARER TO MOSCOW

TWO MAIN ATTACKS REPULSED Unabated Fury of Battle CRITICAL SITUATION IN CRIMEA (Rcc. 0.10 a.m.) London, Oct. 26. Ihe great battle for Moscow continues with unabated fury and with citizens fully aware of the peril. Ihe commander of the Moscow garrison. General Artemyev, in a statement to the “Pravda says that the enemy are daily nearer the approaches of the capital but adds that the fortifications of the approaches are daily increasing in strength. He warns the population against enemy spies who are being sent to Moscow dressed as Red Army men. A dispatch from the front published by “Pravda” states that the two main attacks against the city have been repulsed within 1 2 hours. In them the enemy lost heavily. A report from Kuibyshev states that the towns and villages on the Crimean Peninsula are fortifying themselves. 1 here are barricades in Simferopol, while the naval base of Sebastapol bristles with guns. To-day. as the fighting in Russia enters its nineteenth week, the Russians are beating off the heavily mounting German threat to Moscow and in the Donetz Basin are trying desperately to stem the enemy’s advance. All reports show that despite ferocious land and air assaults, the Germans have been unable to make a decisive break-through of the perimeter defences of Moscow'. In the Donetz Basin region the evidence show’s that the Germans, through the sheer w'eight of mtal and numbers, are making progress, specially tow'ard the rich industrial town of Rostov. There is no confirmation of the usual weekend German claims, which this time announced the capture of Kharkov, the great armament centre and industrial capital of the eastern Ukraine. The Germans say that Kharkov was taken after a two-days air blitz which reduced the whole city to flames. Moscow radio this morning emphasised that Rostov was seriously threatened, but so far massive assaults by the Germans have been repulsed. Moscow radio described the fighting at the approaches to the Crimea as more fierce, but said the Germans have not achieved significant gains though they have penetrated deeply into the Russian defences at isolated places. However, a critical situation has arisen because the enemy is in a position to attack the Russian rear, and consequently the defenders of the Crimea face severe trials to keep out the powerful enemy, it added. A Moscow communique reported that fighting was continuing in the directions of Mojaisk, Malo-Yaroslavetz, 1 aganrog and Makeevka (near Stalin). Scores of German planes were being shot down. Guerrilla activities were still going on in the Odessa region. It is felt in London (says British Official Wireless) that not only prestige with the German people and the eagerly w'atching allies and neutrals but also the practical needs for satisfactory winter quarters are forcing the Nazi leaders to throw in reserves almost recklessly and attack with redoubled violence to achieve some definite result before many more weeks have passed. London, Oct.. 25. [

The Moscow “Pravda” says: “The si lation in all sectors of the southern front remains grave. Increased enemy pressure in the Donetz Basin has been blocked by growing resistance, and both sides are suffering enormous losses." The same newspaper, commenting on the Moscow situation, says: fighting on the far approaches to Moscow is growing in intensity. The enemy has superiority in mechanised and motorised forces, but the resistance of the defenders is heroic. The enemy is constantly carry.'.; out tank attacks. “The enemy is still very strong, but we have inflicted heavy losses on him already, and vast reinforcements from the whole of Soviet Russia are arriving on the Moscow front. It is necessary to transform Moscow into an unshakeable fortress, making it possible to defend the capital and destroy the enemy.” BARRING NAPOLEON’S ROAD A Russian statement from Kuibyshev says that the defenders’ position has been improved in the Mojaisk sector of the central front, where the Russians have regained territory and established dependable positions. The statement adds that the Russian resistance is stiffening in the Donetz Basin and bitter fighting is proceeding in the neighbourhood of Stalin and Makeevka. The German drive toward Rostov has been checked except at one point, where the Russians have taken up new positions. Moscow radio, quoting a report from the front, said that the enemy attacks have become ferocious. German forces which were flung against the Russian positions in the Mojaisk sector have been repulsed. “The Pravda" says that Soviet units drove the Germans from an unnamed town on the central front and are now completing mopping up. Other Russian forces during counter-attacks repulsed attempts by the enemy to cross the River Oka near the Kaluga area. The Germans have pressed Soviet units back at two points south of MaL Yarosla.vets, but the Russians are now improving their positions. LONG FIGHT IN STALIN The Stockholm correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” declares that the town of Stalin is now in German ahd Italian hands after five days’ street fighting, which ended in the burning of three-quarters of the town and the dynamiting of its huge metal works, blast furnaces and other industrial undertakings. Heavy fighting is also in progress round Makeevka. Field Marshal von Rundstedt’s southern army is now battling within 20 miles of Rostov. The Soviet news agency says fighting has commenced on the approaches to Rostov. The Germans hurled in a notorious cut-throat regiment named after Hitler, but they were repulsed with bloody losses and retreated in panic. The agency reports that the enemy launched a frenzied offensive against the Crimea yesterday, when they at first managed to push hack the Russian troops but vigorous counter-at-tacks beat off the onslaught. A quarter of a million Germans and Rumanians are trying to break through the Perekop defences and furious fighting raee: north of the gian breastwork on the isthmus. One height in this sector has changed hands eight times. The German news agency stated that German infantry entered Kharkov on 24th October after the four weeks’ drive from Poltava, from which the army advanced on a broad front. Artillery prepared the way for the infantry to enter the town. The Germans were obliged to break through a strong Russian defence line fortified with pillboxes and trenches to advance to Kharkov through the mud. The infantry lacked food reinforcements for days because the motor columns were bogged, and supplies were frequently dropped from planes.