GERMAN PRESSURE ON MOSCOW

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24134, 28 November 1941, Page 7

GERMAN PRESSURE ON MOSCOW

NO MAJOR BREAK-THROUGH ENEMY ATTEMPTS TO SURROUND-CITY (Received November 28, 12.20 a.m.) 1/OXDON, Nov. 27 On the Moscow front German panzer divisions are battling first in one sector and then in another in attempts to break through the city's defences. There is nothing to suggest that any important break-through has occurred. Fighting is particularly fierce in the Volokalamsk and Tula sectors and both sides are throwing in reserves. A Moscow report states that, after 24 hours" fighting, the enemy succeeded in forcing crossings at a number of points along a river in the Klin area, 42 miles nojth-west of Moscow. This river is presumed to be the Volga. Moscpw radio says the situation in the Klin area is tense and complicated. The Germans /have advanced in a north-easterly direction. Fifty-four degrees of frost are reported in some districts. The radio adds that the attack on the capital has now reached its second phase, with the enemy trying to surround the city with wide encircling movements. The German efforts to break through have been intensified. In the past 10 days, the Russians admit, the enemy has succeeded in advancing his lines. In the north an entire German regiment has been wiped out, while the staff of another has been captured. The Stockholm correspondent of the Times says the war in Russia is now at a most critical stage on the Moscow front, where the Germans continue furiously to hurl forces in undiminished numbers against the approaches to the capital. Paying heavily in blood and material for every yard captured, they are still slowly progressing, particularly along the railway to Moscow through Klin. The exact position cannot be determined at present, but it is clear that the Russians so far have foiled the German plan to envelop Moscow at least the northern half of the Moscow front. In the Tikhvin area the Russians are reported to be nearing the important railway station on the Leningrad-Vologda line. The Russians' advance in the Donetz Basin has brought them local successes near Rostov, The position in the Crimea is unchanged.