NEW THRUST

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24127, 20 November 1941, Page 9

NEW THRUST

GERMANS AT OREL BIDS FOR RAILWAYS ISOLATION OF MOSCOW LONDON, Nov. 18 The Russians are strongly resisting the new German drive eastward from Orel, 200 miles south of Moscow, in which two German tank divisions are taking part. The Soviet commander was forced to withdraw his men under the first German attack, which began on Thursday last. The Germans, following up, captured certain villages, but they suffered heavily for these initial gains, and the question is how soon their drive will lose momentum. The objective of this thrust, which is being accompanied by an attempt to move eastward from Kursk, is obviously to reach the vital railway runrung from Rostov to Moscow, through Voronej. This bid to separate Moscow from the southern front is a corollary of the pushes in the Tikhvin and Volkhov regions, aiming to separate Moscow from the Leningrad front. The Red Star emphasises the danger of these operations and says it would suit Hitler's purpose admirably if he split the present 1500-milo front into a number of small fronts, each with its own specific objective. This would mean that Hitler could hold such fronts as he wished to keep quiet with a minimum number of men and so reduce the number of troops compelled to endure the hardships of the winter campaign in the open. Hitler simultaneously would not lose the general initiative on the Eastern front. Realising this, the Red Star affirms the necessity of compelling the enemy to freeze by wintering in the open fields and adds that it is wrong, however. to think that winter itself might exhaust the Germans. It might make the scope of operations narrower, but cannot halt the offensive. Only Russian activity and steadiness can do that. In the Donetz Basin, the Soviet news agency reports, the weather is now bitterly cold with a biting wind. The Germans are trying to force a way quickly into several other industrial areas, but they are meeting with stern resistance. In front of Rostov the enemy is firmly held. The Berlin newspapers announce that Major-General Georg B: ,un has been killed in the Ukraine. FROZEN TO DEATH GERMANS' SUFFERINGS LONDON, Nov. 18 It is authoritatively stated that quite a number of German soldiers have been found frozen to death on the Russian battlefields. Very few were properly equipped for the winter. Many were rigged out in women's furs and other makeshifts. However, the Russians defending Moscow are well equipped and their morale is of the highest. It appears that the intense cold is proving a valuable ally to the heroic defenders of Moscow, in front, of which, as in a German broadcast Colonel Bade admits to German listeners, the attackers are "held up by adversities of weather." All information reaching authoritative quarters in London goes to show that the Germans are suffering terribly. Very few are properly equipped to withstand the rigours of the Russian winter. Moscow radio states that an influenza epidemic has broken out among the Germans on the eastern front and is causing many deaths. AMERICAN AIRCRAFT ASSEMBLY IN RUSSIA LONDON, Nov. 10 Moscow radio states that Russian airmen are assembling in the rear large numbers of aeroplanes from the United States. Some American aeroplanes are already in service. A military mission is shortly to leave the United States for Archangel, reports the military correspondent of the New York Times. He adds that the mission will be a large one.