CRITICAL POSITION IN UKRAINE

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24106, 27 October 1941, Page 7

CRITICAL POSITION IN UKRAINE

GERMAN OFFENSIVE AGAINST ROSTOV By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received October 20, 11,10 p.m.) ' LONDON, Oct. 2 (i A communique issued by the German High Command claims the capture of Kharkov, great industrial centre of the eastern Ukraine, and also of Belgorod, 50 miles north, on the railway to Moscow. Kharkov's factories produced in peacetime large numbers of locomotives and tractors, together with heavy industrial and electrical equipment of all kinds. The German news agency stated that German infantry entered Kharkov on Friday after a 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 of fortified pillboxes and trenches. The advance to Kharkov was made through mud; the infantry lacked food and reinforcements for days because the motor columns were bogged, and supplies were frequently dropped from aeroplanes. Improvement Claimed on Central Front A Russian statement from Kuibyshev says the Russian position has improved in the Mojaisk sector on the centra} front, where the Russians have regained territory as the result of counterattacks and established dependable positions. All reports to-day indicate that the Germans have been unable to break through the perimeter defences of Moscow. Jn one battle on the Moscow front yesterday the Germans attacked with 80 tanks and lost half of them. The Russian resistance is stiffening in the Donetz Basin, and bitter fighting is proceeding in the neighbourhood of the towns of Stalin and Makeevka, about 1 5 miles north-east of Stalin. The German drive toward Rostov appears to be making progress. Russians Destroy Town of Stalin Moscow radio admits this morning that Rostov is seriously threatened. The enemy is throwing in large masses of infantry and tanks, including the notorious cut-throat regiment named after Hitler, but they have been repulsed with bloody losses and retreated in panic. The Stockholm correspondent of the Daily Telegraph says the town of Stalin is now in German and Italian hands after five days of street fighting, which ended in the burning of threequarters of the town and the dynamiting of the huge metal works, blast furnaces and other industrial undertakings. Heavy fighting is also in progress around Makeevka. Von Rundstedt's southern arm is now battling within 20 miles of Rostov. The Russians claim that they are holding their positions in the Taganrog sector, on the coast west of Rostov, and that a new enemy offensive on Friday was beaten off with heavy German losses.