GERMANS FROZEN TO DEATH

Southland Times, Issue 24596, 19 November 1941, Page 5

GERMANS FROZEN TO DEATH

Finding Of Corpses Reported

LONDON, November 17.

According to a Kuibyshev message the Russians have found the corpses of the first Germans to be frozen to death. The Soviet newspaper Pravda, commenting on this, says: “The Russian winter has assumed its rights. With fierce frost and heavy snow hampering the action of the tanks, the Germans keep mainly to roads and are now more vulnerable to blows from the Russian troops, air force and artillery.” The German News Agency reports that the Russians are throwing in new units on the Moscow front, where violent fighting followed a Soviet coun-ter-attack with a number of tanks.

Official reports reaching London indicate that confused fighting is taking place in various parts of the Russian front, with both sides attacking, but with no appreciable geographical move in either direction. The Russians report fighting during the night along the whole front and describe local exploits of artillery, tanks and partisans harassing the enemy rear. There is no further information about the position of Kerch, the capture of which is claimed by the Germans, although it is known that the Germans are very close to the town.

The Moscow wireless claims that the enemy has been driven from a village on the central front with great losses and claims a further local advance against strong resistance near Leningrad, where German casualties in the last five days have been about 1000 killed and wounded. There is no confirmation in London of the Oslo radio reports that “a Finnish armoured unit routed a Russian armoured unit armed exclusively with British tanks.” GERMAN CLAIMS A special announcement from Hitler’s headquarters confirms the earlier German News Agency message saying that Kerch has been captured and the whole of the Eastern Crimea is now in German hands. It further claims that 100,000 prisoners have so far been taken in the Crimean campaign.

Pravda’s war correspondent on the Karelian front describes an operation by picked German troops a fortnight ago in the Kestenga area when they attempted to cut an important railway and drive a wedge between Russian units and disrupt Russian communica-

tions, thus improving their position in the Murmansk area. The enemy’s furious attack was met with such tenacity and valour that in the first 10 days of the fighting the enemy lost about 4000 killed. Soviet troops then attacked the German flank, advanced several miles and captured a number of important localities. They left hundreds of killed and wounded lying on the snow-covered ground. Thereafter the enemy failed to move a step forward. CANADIAN AID FOR RUSSIA (Rec. 7.30 pan.) OTTAWA, Nov. 17. The Bureau of Statistics announced that Canadian shipments of aid to Russia during October were valued at 1,035,000 dollars.