FIERCE RUSSIAN ATTACKS

Southland Times, Issue 24573, 23 October 1941, Page 5

FIERCE RUSSIAN ATTACKS

New German Thrust Stemmed LONDON, October 21. The Soviet forces, with fierce counterattacks, have stemmed the new German thrust south-west of Moscow, says a despatch to the Soviet Tass News Agency from the front. The Germans, however, have advanced several miles from Mojaisk with tremendous losses but, after a terrific tank battle, the advance there, too, has been halted at the crossroads of the Mojaisk-Moscow highway. Fighting in the Malo Yaroslavets direction has been equally intense. There the enemy launched several attacks in an endeavour to pierce the Russian lines, but were beaten off with heavy losses. The Berlin correspondent of the Swedish newspaper Social Demokraten reports that German officials admit that the offensive against Moscow has assumed a stationary character. They give as the reason for this the , complicated and widespread nature of the operations. The German News Agency says that the Russian forces yesterday counter-attacked with great ferocity on a broad front against the German troops advancing in the Lake Ladoga area in the north. The attacks were repelled. Declaring that the Russians . have taken the initiative in the Leningrad sector, the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera describes a Russian landing of 4000 troops supported by heavy artillery and planes behind the German lines on the Leningrad front. Soviet planes swooped a few yards from the ground and machine-gunned the German positions. A Russian supplementary communique states: “On Sunday 23 German planes were destroyed. Our losses were seven planes. One of our air squadrons operating on one of the sectors of the Orel front on Sunday destroyed 23 enemy tanks, six armoured cars and 31 motor-cars. The same day the same squadron bombed successfully an enemy aerodrome and destroyed 20 German planes on the ground.” The communique then refers to the heroism of the Soviet tank crews operating on the Orel froflt, who are inflicting heavy losses on the enemy. “One tank crew during Sunday killed one company of infantry soldiers,” it states. “On Saturday one Soviet tank attacked 14 German tanks which were in the village of Ukovo and destroyed nine.”

INTENSE FIGHTING The Moscow radio reports from the central front that the fighting is very intense. “The enemy is constantly throwing big units and many tanks into the fighting, but the Soviet troops are offering stubborn resistance,” the radio says. “The Red Army has succeeded in stopping the advance of the enemy in several sectors. In some sectors our troops even launched' successful counter-attacks.” The radio stated that after heavy activity by the Russians one unit attacked the enemy and entered the town of “K,” occupied by the Germans after heavy street fighting. In another sector the Germans threw in 70 tanks. The fighting lasted until nightfall, when the enemy had been repulsed. His losses were 11 tanks and many soldiers killed. “The Soviet air force is constantly dealing blows on the enemy,” says the radio. “In one sector of the central front the Red Air Force during five days destroyed 108 enemy tanks, 189 motorcars, six fuel tanks, two heavy tanks, two heavy guns and two anti-aircraft batteries.”