TRENCH WAR MAY DEVELOP

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 24032, 1 August 1941, Page 7

TRENCH WAR MAY DEVELOP

GERMAN ARMIES IN DIFFICULTIES

POSSIBILITY OF RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE

By Telegraph Press Association—Copyright July SI. 11.30 p.m.) LONDON, Jnlv St Neutral observers in Europe envisage the possibility of one aide or the other m the Russo-German campaign collapsing from sheer physical exhaustion, reports the correspondent of the Times on the German frontier. He quotes the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung as saying that the battlefront is at least six times the size of that between the Channel and the Meuse, overshadowing anything and everything in the last war. This German newspaper asserted that militarily the climax of the struggle against Russia has passed, but pointed out that victory over Russia will not be followed by the same results as that over France, because Russia has intact reserves which the German military authorities Relieve to be gigantic.

The Germans admit that their front-line troops are feeling the strain of the prolonged effort, and that some confess that the limits of endurance have been reached. The men can scarcely hope for relief because of the vast extent of the battlefield. Time Factor Favours Russians British correspondents agree that blitzkrieg methods on the Russo-German front are giving way to trench warfare of a more orthodox kind. The correspondents believe the Russians are better able to face protracted trench warfare than the Germans as they have an almost inexhaustible supply of manpower, and the time factor would favour the defenders. The Germans continue to emphasise the difficulties of the campaign. The spokesman on the Berlin radio declared that Russian tanks were heavier and more strongly armed than Germany's. The biggest were also superior numerically. According to military circles in London the Russian communiques, which still report intense fighting in some areas, indicate that the Germans are making little progress. It is considered possible that the only advance, and that very slow, is in the direction of Jitomir, in the thrust to the Ukraine. Heavy Russian counterattacks in Smolensk area are again the feature of the fighting, and authorities in London said these counter-attacks might be the beginning of a large-scale Russian offensive. Further German Losses at Smolensk The deputy-chief of the Soviet Ministry of Information, M. Lozovsky, stated late last night that Russian counter-attacks had driven back some German divisions 100 miles, and several German units were encircled. The Germans were halted everywhere. The Russians to-day claim that further losses have been inflicted on the Germans around Smolensk. The Russian communique last night stated: "Fighting occurred to-day in the Novorjev, Neval, Smolensk and Jitomir sectors, and was especially stubborn in the Smolensk and Jitomir areas. Soviet aeroplanes bombed Ploesti and Sulina, causing great fires."

German aeroplanes made another unsuccessful attempt to bomb Moscow last night, state the Russians. None of the raiders reached the city and one was shot down.