LOSSES IN RUSSIA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24896, 21 April 1942, Page 5

LOSSES IN RUSSIA

LUFrWAFFE PERSONNEL ORIGINAL FORCE WIPED OUT (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON. Apl. 19. The virtual wiping out of the entire air personnel of the Luftwaffe which entered the Russian war. is claimed by General Grendahl, of the Soviet Air Force, in an article in the Krasnaja Zveda, reports the Kuibyshev correspondent of The Times. General Grendahl says that the Luftwaffe is now using pilots and crews with less training and battle experience. The operations against Russia can be divided into three periods. The first period, up till the end of August, was characterised by sudden attacks against Russian aerodromes and troops. The Luftwaffe lost 7200 planes and 20,000 men. In the second period, which continued until the end of November, there were battles between the opposing air forces in which the Luftwaffe lost 5000 planes and between 12.000 and 15.000 men. During the third period, up till the end of March, the Russians clearly had the upper hand. The Luftwaffe lost 33,000 men, which is believed to be more than its original strength. According to prisoners, the Germans have 74 pilot schools, each with 150 pupils who train only from three to six months.

The Moscow radio reports that the Russian Air Force bombed German headquarters on the central front and killed 28 staff officers.

Notable Russian Exploits

The exploit of six Russian planes which routed 28 Germans with heavy loss to the enemy is described by the Moscow radio. Six planes, it was stated, met a group of German planes consisting of 15 heavy German bombers and five Messerschmitt 109's on the Karelian front. In spite of the numerical superiority of the enemy, the Russians attacked. Three enemy E lanes were destroyed, one of them eing rammed. The enemy received reinforcements of eight Messerschmitt 109's. The Russian pilots rammed two further Messerschmitt 109's. and after 20 minutes of fighting the enemy planes fled. All the Russian planes returned to their aerodrome, one with a damaged wing as the result of ramming an enemy machine. A description of another notable exploit comes from the Leningrad front. A few days ago Russian planes carried out a successful raid on an enemy aerodrome. Nine German planes were destroyed, and about 10 damaged on the ground. Two were shot down in aerial combat over the aerodrome.

Meanwhile the latest Russian communique has no material changes to report during yesterday. On April 17 six German planes were destroyed, against the Russians' four. A supplement adds that in the last two days on the Leningrad front 1500 German officers and men were killed in fierce fighting, and 3160 have been killed in the last few days on the Kalinin front. Unsuccessful Gei'man attacks on the south-western front are reported iti another Soviet communique, which says that the enemy lost over 350 men killed. On the central front the Russians surrounded an enemy position and inflicted severe losses. Losses at Leningrad The result of the German attempts during the past month to regain the initiative on the Leningrad front, states a Kuibyshev message, has been that M. Mereskov, the Soviet, commander there, defeated two divisions which had originally been intended for the spring offensive. These are the reserve S.S. Division and the Twentieth Motorised Division. German efforts during the past few days to break the Soviet front in the Leningrad sector have been unsuccessful, and yesterday the Germans lost at least 300 men killed. The message says that the Russians are continuing to advance against the Finns in spite of the increasing resistance of the Finns, who have lost thousands of men in the last two days.