BATTLE FOR SMOLENSK

Southland Times, Issue 24499, 29 July 1941, Page 5

BATTLE FOR SMOLENSK

SOVIET BOMBING “GIGANTIC, CONTINUOUS VERDUN” (Rec. 10 p.m.) LONDON, July 28. The Russian-German front has become a gigantic, continuous Verdun. “We cannot yet give details of the vast Smolensk battle, but we will do so immediately the Germans are finally beaten there,” said M. Lozovsky, Chief of the Soviet Information Bureau, in making this statement. “It is a battle which will be studied for many years. The Luftwaffe will not last long if its present losses continue.”

“German plans to seize aerodromes near Moscow were frustrated and the Germans have been obliged to operate against the capital from a distance because of the continuous Soviet bombing of advanced aerodromes,” said M. Lozovsky. “Some persons thought we exaggerated when we said the loss of certain territories earlier was not decisive, but the Soviet, with tens of industrial centres, can afford to lose a small proportion of territory.” M. Lozovsky added that guerrilla units were daily growing in number and strength. They often act in communication with the Red Army,” he said. “One unit recaptured Slutsk, killing off the entire German garrisonand destroying German stocks, retiring only when German reinforcements arrived. A guerrilla unit at Luniniec destroyed 3000 tons of grain which the Germans had stolen, also petrol stores, and blew up 10 bridges. Another unit destroyed 30 tanks and armoured vehicles. The guerrillas’ tricks are causing panic among the Germans. Wires stretched across the roads at nights knock off motor-cyclists and spiked bars puncture tyres. The Germans are making reprisals by killing captured guerrillas with horrible tortures.” GERMAN VIEW MORE SOBER A distinct sobering of the German view of the war is shown in the Frankfurter Zeitung’s review of the first five weeks of fighting. “The war in the East has developed quite differently from that in the West last year and has become the most adventurous war in history,” it states. “A front-line no longer exists. Our tanks are often separated from the infantry units, which fight in the confidence that the Luftwaffe and motorized forces will come to their aid. Our tanks realize

that after breaking an oncoming wave of enemy troops the enemy will ever and again close behind them, but our tanks do not retreqt. Everything depends on whether reinforcements arrive in time. “The Russians have lately developed the tactics of deeply penetrating our lines. Therefore, it is difficult to designate our exact positions. Actually the front is split into many confused fighting centres. Nothing is more incorrect than to assume that our western methods are applicable against the Russians, who have proved themselves tougher than we expected. Everything shows that the Red Army General Staff is determined to oppose not merely on the defensive, but with its own offensive.” General Liebemann, in an article in the Berliner Boersen Zeitung, says the Russian resistance has necessitated throwing in the entire German Army, the majority of which consists of nonmotorized infantry and horse-drawn waggons and batteries. The Istanbul correspondent of The Times says the Rumanians are reported to have believed that the occupation of Bessarabia would mean the end of the war against Russia as far as they were concerned, but the Germans are spurring on the Rumanians with a threat that Hungary might otherwise be rewarded with an additional slice of Transylvania. A Helsinki message reports that captured Russian documents revealed that M. Stalin had inaugurated a fresh purge of the Red Army, liquidating nine generals.