YUGOSLAV FRONT

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24141, 6 December 1941, Page 11

YUGOSLAV FRONT

SERB LEADER CONFIDENT NEW GERMAN ATTACK BRITONS IN PATRIOT UNITS (Reed. 9.30 p.m.) LONDON. Dec. 5 The headquarters of the Yugoslav forces stated in a communique that three German divisions, supported by tanks and aeroplanes, launched what appeared to be a general offensive against the Yugoslav positions in the western Morava Valley. Yugoslav forces under General Mikhailoviteh are resisting furious enemy onslaughts with success, although in the sector south of Uzice enemy tank attacks obliged one of their units to withdraw. Yugoslav partisans carried out several successful operations in the enemy's rear. The troops are in high spirits. Hold Out Until End of War Axis troops, after capturing Uzice, are now attacking Serbian patriots to the south in difficult country, says the Budapest correspondent of the Swiss Neuezuercher Zeitung. Early success is not expected. Patriots are operating throughout southern Serbia and northeast Montenegro. The Montenegrin Government is established at Kolasin. Five fully-trained Yugoslav divisions are now engaged in fierce fighting with German troops in Yugoslavia, states a message from Moscow. Friends of General Mikhailovitch, who have escaped to England, told the Daily Express he was completely confident of his ability to hold out with guerilla forces until the end of the war. Aid of Troops From Greece One of the escapees, Dr. Sekulitch, a former superintendent of the Belgrade Municipal Hospital, spent five months with General Mikhailovitch. The leader was delighted with the fighting qualities of British soldiers who have escaped from Greece and were now serving with his forces, he said. A message from Budapest reports that 1500 were killed following a munition dump explosion at Uzice. The dump was hidden in the vault of a bank. ROSTOV VICTORY OF HIGHEST IMPORTANCE GERMAN EMBARRASSMENT LONDON, Dec. 4 Although caution •is still needed in estimating the situation on the whole Russian front, says the British official wireless, it is agreed that Marshal Timoshenko's success at Rostov is of the highest importance, and the press to-day is warm in its congratulations of the able planning and admirable execution. The fact that the reports state that the Germans had erected signposts pointing the way back to Mariupol, 70 miles off, is a measure of the success. The Times says: "That the drain on German manpower through the eastern campaign as a whole is being grievously felt is .suggested by the news that still greater requisitions are being made on purveyors of second grade cannon fodder in Rome and Bucharest. While the screw is being applied there the fate of the front-line troops remains precarious. "No one can yet say where the flight from Rostov can bo stayed. The German High Command cannot be without anxiety even for the position in the Crimea, where Sebastopol may yet play the part of a greater Tobruk, but the value of Marshal Timoshenko's victories does not depend upon speculation about future gains. "The enemy is covering up his embarrassment by reasserting that the Moscow front alone is of supreme importance—which is only true on the assumption that the expected fall of Moscow would lead to the submission of all Russia. The assumption is certainly false, and the expectation is still far from achievement. The greatest prize that a complete victory could give Hitler is the command of the oilbearing Caucasus for a considerable time to come." General Schmidt, commander of a German division, was killed in the fighting near Rostov. The newspaper Izvestia says that in the operation in which Schmidt was killed, his division, totalling 60 tanks, was reduced to five during five days' fighting. 61 BELGIANS FOR TRIAL LONDON, Dec. 4 German-controlled newspapers in Brussels state that the Germans have ordered the immediate dissolution of the Belgian National Legion of War Veterans and the court-martial of 61 of its 'leaders after the discovery of arms, munitions and propaganda material at the legion's headquarters.