RAIN IN NORTH RUSSIA

Southland Times, Issue 24524, 27 August 1941, Page 5

RAIN IN NORTH RUSSIA

BATTLEFIELD LIKE MARMALADE (Rec. 9.55 p.m.) LONDON, August 26. The Moscow correspondent of The Daily Telegraph says that heavy rain drenched Northern Russia at the weekend, converting the battlefield into what a British general described as an excellent imitation of marmalade. The Stockholm correspondent of The Daily Mail says that Marshal Simeon Budenny’s forces are no longer purely on the defensive on the lower Dnieper. The Germans have been severely hit by a counter-attack. He added that Russian flank attacks from the Estonian bases are crippling the Germans attempting to advance towards Leningrad from Kingisepp. NO SUBSTANTIAL CHANGE Stiff Resistance By Russian Air Force

(Rec. 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, August 25. Reports from neither side suggest any substantial change on the Eastern Front today, although the - Wilhelmstrasse claims without confirmation that Leningrad is now under artillery fire and admits that the Russian Air Force is putting up a stiff resistance. The Wilhelmstrasse asserts that, the Germans have shortened and straightened the front south of Lake Ilmen and also contracted the circle around Tallinn. The Finns claim to have closed in in the Viborg sector. Some reports state that Suojarvi has been captured, opening the way to the railway between Leningrad and Murmansk in the Lake Onega region. Russian counter-attacks on the north and Salla fronts are indicated by the Finnish references to the Finns defending captured ground. The official German version of the Russian counter-attacks in the central sector states that the Russians threw in strong tank units, supported by artillery, in an effort to relieve their defeated forces, but the Germans repulsed all the attacks. The Germans added that on an adjacent sector waves of Russian attackers were mown down, after which the Germans thrust deeply into the Russian lines. BATTLES FOR BRIDGEHEADS Despite heavy German pressure in the Ukraine there is still no indication that Field-Marshal von Rundstedts troops yet hold territory east of the Dnieper. Battles for the vital Dnieper bridgeheads continue unabated. There is no slackening of the Russian resistance where the Germans are attempting the approach to the crossings between Cherkasy and the lower Dnieper. The Russians mentioned Dnerpropetrovsk for the first time, but it is not clear whether the Germans have closely approached this point, all though the Berlin radio claims that it is within reach of the advanced troops. There is no news of fighting at Odessa. According to Reuter’s correspondent in Moscow steady rain has been falling along the whole length of the great Russian front for 24 hours. If it continues it may have a decisive effect on the outcome of the present great battles, the Pripet Marshes and the soft soil of (the Ukraine being impassable for motor vehicles during the rains.