KIEV’S STRONG RESISTANCE

Southland Times, Issue 24547, 23 September 1941, Page 5

KIEV’S STRONG RESISTANCE

COMPLETE EXHAUSTION OF GARRISON (Rec. 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 21. An Italian report says that Kiev’s fall was due to complete exhaustion. The city had been without water for a week. The market had also been empty for a month and closed for a week. Russians wounded in the great battle for the Eastern Ukraine had been taken mainly to Kiev, where schools, theatres, hotels and private houses were filled with wounded. Nevertheless, the Germans were obliged to overcome a belt of concrete forts, a minefield, and hightension wire defences and engage in terrible hand-to-hand fighting before the city was conquered. The report adds that advance German armoured troops were thrown back after reaching the centre of Kiev, and only succeeded in taking the city after three days’ fighting. The Germans found that the people of Kiev, including the wounded, had not eaten for three days. INFANTRY SWIM RIVER A Berne message describes naked Germans storming the Kiev inner defences. It was stated that during Thursday night German infantry swam across a small river southwards of Kiev before storming the concrete casements defending the inner city. The men were wearing nothing but steel helmets and they carried arms and ammunition. This bold thrust proved decisive for the capture of the city. The message adds that the Germans several weeks previously broke through the first line of fortifications and then ordered a halt pending the union of General von Bock’s and General von Rundstedt’s forces.

The Red Star, organ of the Red Army, reports that Russian thrusts drove the Germans from an unnamed city southwards of Leningrad. After being reinforced the Germans succeeded in recapturing the city, but again they were driven out. They suffered heavy losses, despite their numerical superiority. The newspaper claims that the Germans lost 40 per cent, of the men engaged in the battle for Leningrad. Although the violence of the fighting around Odessa has heightened the city is holding firm. A Moscow report states that the enemy not only failed to advance, but was even repulsed at several points. It added that the favourite and most effective method of meeting the enemy attacks on Odessa was a bayonet charge after machinegun fire. There is no further news of the fighting near the Crimea, which the German High Command spokesman claimed was entirely cut off, making the position of the Russians on the north coast of the Black Sea increasingly difficult. Contradicting earlier Axis statements, the German News Agency states that Kiev is in a state of indescribable devastation. All supplies were removed or ! destroyed and the water and electricity works were put out of action, “cruelly endangering the lives of tens of thousands.”

A Moscow communique admits the evacuation of Kiev after many days of fierce fighting. It states that the Finnish warship Ulmarinen struck a mine and sank during an attack by Russian ships in the Gulf of Finland. A Russian attack on the Leningrad front penetrated the German rear, resulting in a German general and four staff officers being killed. The Red Star says that after an extremely bloody battle the Russians recovered 32 villages on the central front. A Moscow commentator, summarizing the Russian reaction to the latest developments, said Russian military policy was not relying upon holding territory, but was designed to inflict the heaviest possible losses. A German commentator said the German operations had entered a new phase which would be carried out regardless of space and time. “Winter will not constitute an obstacle,” he said. WARNING AGAINST COMPLACENCY (8.0.W.) RUGBY, September 21. A stem warning against complacency was given by Mr Emanuel Shinwell, a Labour member of the House of Commons in a speech today. People, he said, just must not expect Russia to win the war for Britain. They must face the fact that, before long, they themselves would be engaged in a deadly struggle with the enemy. Assistance to Russia would make Britain’s task easier and that assistance must be given speedily and in full measure. Efforts in every part of war production and defence measures must be redoubled. “Otherwise we shall be exposed to the full blasts of Nazi domination,” he said. “We are now emerging into total war.”