THE KIEV SECTOR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24715, 18 September 1941, Page 7

THE KIEV SECTOR

FIELDS DEVASTATED NAZI GRAVES EVERYWHERE THE APPROACH OF WINTER RUGBY, Sept. 16. The Russian morning communique states: "During last night our troops were engaged in fighting the enemy along the entire front." The German communique is equally uncommunicative, except for the general claim that the encirclement of Leningrad is closing in. Unofficial German reports that the suburbs of Leningrad have been entered produced the comment here, " What is a suburb? The so-called suburbs of great cities—for example, London —stretch for many miles outside the city, and the imaginative German propaganda may even make such an area still larger to suit its own needs. The Tass Agency states that 30,000 Germans have so far died in the approaches to Kiev. , The Germans have now dug in in the open country. The autumn rains are already falling. The nights are increasingly cold and the landscape is completely altered. There are Fascist graves everywhere. The fields are devastated and the forests are strewn with bodies. Position in the South A possible new development is indicated in the Berlin claim last night that troops were advancing towards the Crimea. It was stated that after crossing the Dnieper at several points near its Black Sea mouth, they penetrated deeply into the Nogayaskaya Steppes, north of the isthmus linking the Ukraine and the Crimea. The Germans at the same time renewed their air. offensive against Black Sea shipping. The Zurich Frankfurter Zeitunp editorially says the German High Command has no intention of continuing the advance into the vast seemingly endless Russian territory in order to occupy every village and city, but it must continue operations for the necessary purpose of defeating the Red Army to such an extent that any threat from Russia is impossible. This aim has already been partially reached, but further hard fighting and sacrifices are unavoidable owing to the enormous masses of war material and soldiers Russia is able to bring to the front line. New German Spearhead

The turmoil on the central front cannot be sorted out to-day from the Russian and German official reports, which do not reflect any appreciable developments except on the northern edge of the Germans' Smolensk wedge. Both sides are still disputing there for the initiative. The main fact emerging is that the Germans are pointing a new spearhead towards distant Bologie through the Valdai Hills, having perhaps reached Toropets. The position on the Dnieper front southwards of Kiev at the moment appears most threatening for the Russians, although the direction of General von Runstedt's main thrust is not yet clear. Meanwhile the defenders of Odessa are competing with the defenders of Leningrad in audacity and striking power. The Tass Agency says the Russians forced the Rumanians around Odessa to retreat at several points and recaptured a village of major strategic importance. Rumanian prisoners testified that their Eleventh Infantry Division was almost wiped out and that only a few men remain in some companies of the Third Infantry Division.