DRIVING SOUTH

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24716, 19 September 1941, Page 5

DRIVING SOUTH

THE GERMAN FORCES * ATTACK ON CRIMEA BULGARIANS ASSISTING (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) (Hec. 1 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 18. On the eastern front it is apparent that the German High Command has initiated a new drive against the Crimea. It is reported that the Germans have reached the isthmus of Perekop, which joins the great peninsula of Crimea with the Ukraine. A report from Ankara states that for some time past it has been known that when the German land forces are ready to advance into the Crimea by land a sea drive will also be undertaken, and it is said that Bulgarian forces are being used in the great attack. The Bulgarian reply to the Russian protest concerning Bulgaria's warlike activities against Russia is regarded as unsatisfactory in Moscow. Heavy German concentrations are massed in the centre of the Ukraine, and it is claimed that armies have crossed the Dnieper Biver at three points. In the centre, the initiative is still held by the Russians, and General Timoshenko is ready to launch a vast counter-attack. There is little news of the situation around Leningrad, but the Leningrad radio broadcast a message that the Germans had been beaten back nine miles from the outskirts of the city. One and a-half million men are locked in a battle to the death, and Russians have ringed Leningrad with a line of 62-ton tanks. The Germans are making desperate efforts to break through the line before the winter. The Russians are amassing a great civilian army in the rear of hostilities, and all men of 16 to 65 years must bear arms, and are bethg trained in the use of them. The Moscow newspaper Pravda says that the war looks as*if it will be protracted, “ but everyone realises that we have more staying power than the Germans.” At President Roosevelt’s request, 100,000,000 dollars are being placed at the disposal of the Russians to purchase war materials. The first 10,000,000 have already been handed over as an advance for the purchase of raw materials, including manganese, chromite, •nd asbestos. .. . „ GERMAN AIR LOSSES An overnight Soviet communique states: “ In the course of September 17 our troops continued stubborn fighting against the enemy along the whole front. During September 15, 78 German planes ■ niNaerial combat and oiF enemy .aerodromes. Our losses were 25 aircraft.” A supplementary Soviet communique refers to recent fighting in the Briansk sector, south-east of Smolensk, and states that General Guderian lost two-thirds of his tanks during these attacks. “ The German-attacks on Brians,lr were an absolute failure. The ...Germans lost more than 20,000 men, more than 500 German tanks were destroyed, and 300 guns destroyed or captured. All the German attacks were repulsed.” ' The communique further declared that the German announcement on September l(r that in the Lake Ilmen area 53,000 Soviet troops were taken prisoner was absolutely untrue. The Germans were trying by such lies to draw the attention of the German people away.from:their own losses. The Soviet losses were, in fact, 30,000 killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. Furthermore, the Russians lost 42 guns, not 695, as claimed by the Germans. The German losses in this sector amounted to between 45,000 and 50,000. BRITISH AIR ACTIVITY The Stockholm correspondent of the Daily Telegraph says official Russian circles in Stockholm sgy that British fighter planes in the Leningrad area have already destroyed 100 enemy aircraft and appreciably lessened the German pilots’ desire for combats. In order to prepare trained reserves for the Red Army, the State Defence Committee in Moscow ordered all males between 16 and 65 to undergo compulsory military training outside working hours.