FATEFUL BATTLE FOR MOSCOW

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24133, 27 November 1941, Page 9

FATEFUL BATTLE FOR MOSCOW

BREAK-THROUGH AT KLIN

RUSSIAN CONFIDENCE IN OUTCOME (Received November 27, 12.15 a.m.) LONDON, Not. 26 Despatches to Kuibyshev from the front state that the Germans have broken through the Soviet defences at Klin, 42 miles north-west of Moscow, and are now astride the main kighway leading from Klin to Moscow. The battle is one of the most ferocious and intensive since the outbreak of the war. Two German tank divisions and one motorised division are engaged. The Moscow radio said: "Our troops are fighting with the eyes of the world fixed on them. They know their duty. Moscow will be defended at all costs. Our motto must be: "Not a step backward. Let us fight and smash the enemy. Moscow radio said last night that the threat to the capital was still serious. It added that the present battle would decide the fate of the city. More than half the German tank divisions were said to be operating around Moscow. According to the Turkish radio, the Germans claim that their armoured units are now within 19 miles of Moscow. The Russians admit that the Germans have reached the railway station at Tula, 120 miles south of the capital. The midnight Moscow communique said the fighting yesterday was particularly fierce in the Volokalamsk, Stalinogorsk and Rostov sectors. Stalinogorsk is on the railway 30 miles south-east of Tula. The statement that the Germans would lose more men at Moscow than at Verdun, in 1916, when they lost 300,000, was made by the deputy-Chief of the Russian Information Bureau, ML Lozovsky* can say with full confidence that the second offensive on the capital will fail,** he said, "The enemy's pmcesr movement on Moscow has failed,** The situation in the Rostov area is not entirely as favourable as the Germans pretend. The Red Army has pressed its counterattacks across the plateau of the Donetz Basin and cut in the flank of tKe long German salient across that area. This drive threatens the rear of the German forces at Rostov, The speed of the Russian advances indicates that it caught the Germans by surprise In a thinly held area. The Russian newspaper Izvestia claims that during combats westward of Rostov, near the estuary of the Don, the enemy retreated over 37 miles in the main direction, while on some sectors the Russians pressed them back 62 miles. The enemy suffered enormous losses and part of von Kleist's panzer group was smashed. The enemy, realising the strength of the Red Army's onslaught, is now hurriedly transferring fresh troops from several other directions to the scene of the fighting. The Russian advance is continuing. M. Lozovsky said that Cossacks participated in the Russian advance, and added: "The Germans received a sever® blow there."