TWO MAJOR OPERATIONS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 24 January 1942, Page 5

TWO MAJOR OPERATIONS

BETWEEN MOSCOW AND LENINGRAD London, Jan. 22. The Russians appear to be developing two serious major operations between Moscow and Leningrad, says the Stockholm correspondent of “The Times.” They are firstly exerting close pressure on the Volkhov front from the Moscow-Leningrad railway to Novgorod. They are simultaneously attempting a westward drive across frozen lakes in the Seliger region. The first thrust aims to throw off the German stranglehold on Leningrad, and the second, more ambitious, aims to defeat the whole German northern wing by striking across the frozen Kholin marshes to the Latvo-Esthoninn border, compelling a general German withdrawal from Leningrad province to avoid encirclement. The accomplishment of the second operation will require such tremendous forces of men and material that the Germans appear to believe the Seliger drive more probable. Yesterday’s severe fighting between Novgorod and the Leningrad-Moscow railway appears the heaviest this year, foreshadowing a renewed attempt in the near future to relieve Leningrad. The activity of the Leningrad forces in cleaning up Germans in the immediate vicinity of the city endorses the belief that the garrison is preparing for an assault, concerted with attacks from the outside.— U.P.A.