DESPERATE NAZI EFFORT

Southland Times, Issue 24602, 26 November 1941, Page 5

DESPERATE NAZI EFFORT

THOUSANDS OF TANKS THROWN IN

(Rec. 9.30 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 24. Hitler has thrown 1,000,000 infantry and more than 10,000 tanks into the battle of Moscow, says the Stockholm correspondent of The Daily Telegraph. Pravda says that three tank divisions from General Erwin Rommel’s Africa Corps are operating on the Moscow front, where the Germans are employing all their available reserves. Izvestia, commenting on the new German onslaught, says: “The Germans know the Red Army reserves are incalculable. This is not a mere phase, but an actual practical military pros-

pect. Hitler’s exhausted troops will inevitably be confronted with fresh Russian units now forming, for which reason it is now or never for Hitler.” The Kuibyshev correspondent of The Times says that although there is no attempt here to under-estimate the seriousness of the military position on the central or southern fronts, official circles maintain the view that Germany is unlikely to be able to continue throughout the winter to stand the rate of losses inflicted by the Russians. GERMANS USE RESERVES

By selling territory dearly in order to gain time the Russians believe they have already caused the enemy to dip deeply into his reserves. Evidence supporting this view includes the capture of prisoners aged over 50 years in theKalinin sector, also desertions of illclad Germans in the Tula area and the Luftwaffe’s • failure to find enough planes to bomb the vital communications leading to Moscow. A despatch from the front tonight states that the Russians on the Leningrad front completely smashed the 115th and 257th German infantry regiments. The Germans lost more than 3000 killed and wounded.

MOTOR ROUTE THROUGH PERSIA

(Rec. 7.50 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 24. The British United Press Teheran correspondent states that a motor route has been opened between Bushire, Shiraz, Isfahan and Teheran, a distance of 550 miles. The first lorries loaded with rubber using the route are expected to reach the Russians early next week. A fleet of 52 lorries is available Jor the five days journey. American 15ton vehicles are expected soon. They are capable of carrying tanks, despite the passes between Bushire and Shiraz rising 12,000 feet. The United Kingdom Commercial Corporation has 1000 lorries operating in Iran and workshops have been established at key points.