LENINGRAD DEFENCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24723, 27 September 1941, Page 9

LENINGRAD DEFENCE

THREE ATTACKS REPULSED DRIVE AGAINST CRIMEA V,' ><- OFFENSIVE DEVELOPING 1 \ ■ . (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph-Copyright) (Rec. 1.15 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 26. It is stated in London that the Russians at Leningrad have beaten off three attacks from different directions. The Germans have apparently made no fresh progress. The German attack against the Crimea is developing. A Russian spokesman was reported earlier to-day as saying that the Russians have the situation well in hand. At midnight on Wednesday the Germans attacked in full force, but the Russians defended themselves behind vast minefields. Twelve German battalions are said to have been annihilated. The Russians withdrew 12 hours later to new positions. Just before noon to-day, however, the, Germans renewed the attack. UNPLEASANT SURPRISE FOR NAZIS The R.A.F.’s advent in the operations was a well-kept secret. The Germans were fully informed of the facts, but had not dared to publish them for fear of damaging Finnish-German morale. The Stockholm correspondent of the Daily Telegraph says the appearance of the R.A.F. on the Murmansk front was probably the Germans’ most unpleasant surprise for weeks. When the Germans and Austrians advanced six days ago after forcing v the Liza River, they threw in strong forces of divebombers to blast the Russian positions. Hurricane* met the Stukas, which promptly made off under cover of the morning mists. The invaders held their attack while squadrons of Messerschmitts were brought from Petsamo and Kirkenas, but these, after a series of dog-fights, also made off, and the R.A.F. is master of the air. The Russians then counter-attacked, throwing back the Germans and Austrians 10 miles. The correspondent adds that waves of Stdkas and heavy bombers are ceaselessly raiding Leningrad, causing indescribable damage, but always losing a percentage of their number. They have not succeeded in breaking the Russian defences or fighting spirit. Marshal Budenny’s main armies have escaped the Kiev trap. ESCAPE FROM KIEV TRAP -■This fact is hbt yet officially accepted in London, but Russian, circles in Stockholm are less reserved. They estimate. that Marshal Budenny extracted three-quarters of his total forces between Kiev and Kremenchug, and also successfully consolidated his front just eastward of Poltava after losing approximately 200,000 men. At Poltava, Marshal Budenny flung in reserves in a counter-attack, which checked the German pursuit long enough to allow the weary and shattered divisions to regroup across the Poltava-Kharkov railway at Valki. From these positions he has been slowly forced back, till he is now 35 miles westward of Kharkov. Against this line, General von Runstedt is preparing to launch a drive, seeking to penetrate the industrial heart of the eastern Ukraine. Simultaneously, General von Runstedt's southern forces are beginning a new advance from Gehichesk along the coast of the Sea of Azov, preventing Marshal Budenny from detaching reinforcements from this sector to meet the threat against Kharkov. GRIM BATTLE FOR KHARKOV EXPECTED The battle for Kharkov will be grim and dour. Marshal Budenny’s army is weakened, but not broken, and it is capable of terrific resistance, backed by a fully mobilised civil population of 800,000 who have been ceaselessly preparing fortifications for the last two months. Moreover, large Soviet reserves are held at Kharkov and other Donetz centres against just such an emergency. The correspondent declares that the Germans have now exhausted their accumulated supplies of munitions and are depending on day-to-day production, but they are still strong enough to maintain an offensive equal to all the

previous ones. The Swiss correspondent of a Berlin newspaper estimates that more shells and bombs have been used in the three months of the RussianGerman war than in all the previous 20 months of the other campaigns. The roads to the front on the German side are packed with supply columns, in which horses7~m~adtlhlion to motors, are carrying immense quantities of munitions. . The Times correspondent on the German frontier quotes a German military expert’s estimate of the rolling stock needed on the eastern front. It included 70,000 motorised cars and lorries, 4000 motor cycles, and between 6000 and 7000 tanks. Every time the front advances 20 or 25 miles about half as many vehicles again as for fighting operations are needed to bring up supplies and reinforcements, indicating that between 40,000 and 50,000 lorries must be kept permanently ready behind the lines. The German expert also estimates that each division, when advancing, consumes

200 tons of munitions a day. When rations, fodder, and motor fuel are included, each division consumes 300 tons a day. One German panzer division consists of about 1000 motor vehicles, including tanks, and needs 100 tons of fuel for each 65 miles. The Izvestia says: “A steady stream of Russian troops and army traffic is moving through Kharkov towards the front as the invaders come nearer the city.” The Moscow radio says the Soviet Fleet Air Arm has sunk 50 ships in the Baltic since the outbreak of the Russian-German war. A Hungarian communique states that the Russians dropped parachutists behind the Hungarian lines, but all- were dealt with. The Stockholm correspondent of the Daily Telegraph says the R.A.F. is in action on the Murmansk front, driving off Stukas and Messerschmitts. and permitting the Russians to throw back the Austrians and Germans 10 miles behind the Liza River.