HEAVY NAZI LOSSES

Timaru Herald, Volume CL, Issue 22043, 16 August 1941, Page 5

HEAVY NAZI LOSSES

Bitter Fighting in Russia Preparing for Winter Campaign By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright (Received 11 p.m.) LONDON, August 15. A RUSSIAN communique reports tierce fighting yesterday along the whole front between the White Sea and the Black Sea. It says: “The Russians evacuated Kirovagrad and Pervomaisk. Warships sank a German submarine in the Baltic. Our aviation, in co-operation with the land troops, continued to deal blows to enemy troops and annihilated aircraft on his aerodromes. On Wednesday 74 German ’planes were brought down in air combats or destroyed on aerodromes. We lost 27 ’planes.” The newspaper “Pravda” states that the German armies totally destroyed so far in the Eastern campaign include one tank corps, five tank divisions, four infantry divisions, one Black Guard division and 12 regiments. In addition 21-divisions lost more than 50 per cent of their effectives. “Pravda” says: “Great and serious events” lie behind such Russian statements as “nothing of importance occurred.” The Berlin News Agency refers to a series of violent battles on the northern sector and claims that a new Dunkirk is developing on the Black Sea coast. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says that when abandoned by the Russians, Smolensk was no longer a practicable base for operations. The Germans have tended to dig in in this heavily contested fluid sector of a great battlefront. The invaders, under present conditions, would face a hopeless task if they tried to advance along the motor highway between Smolensk and Moscow. Because Lake Ilmen and the marshy country between Lake Ilmen and Leningrad are obstructions in the path to Leningrad, the German thrust to Staraya Russa is clearly not aimed at the capture of Leningrad. The Germans evidently are trying to cut the LeningradMoscow railway, but unless the Germans achieve striking success they may be lured into difficult country, which a few weeks hence will become almost impassable. The Germans so far have not occupied any place of the least importance in this sector, but with the German advances north' and the drive into the Ukraine, it is undeniable that the Russians are passing through a difficult period which everyone in Moscow anticipated for this month. The fighting powers of the Soviet armies, nevertheless, are still unimpaired and they are preparing for a long winter campaign.

The announcement that Hitler had established his headquarters with General Rundstedt, “somewhere in the Ukraine,” is the first hint of the Fuhrer’s whereabouts since the outbreak of the Russian-German war.

The Stockholm correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” says that this revelation Is Intended to persuade the outside world that the Ukraine offensive is a decisive German blow against Russia on which the invaders pin hopes of victory, but the purpose of the announcement goes deeper. Even if the Germans reached Erivoirog, it is certain that sooner or later General Rundsted’s armies will be halted through failure of supplies and also the necessity of repairing battered and overstrained machines. When that situation is reached, the Germans hope to be able to launch new drives against Leningrad and Moscow. Meanwhile, the German High Command aims to convince the Russians that the whole strength of the invaders is concentrated in a last desperate effort to break through the Ukraine. In order to heighten the illusion, Hitler s headquarters have been transferred to the southern front, while all the propaganda reports strive to keep up the impression that victory is imminent. Soviet leaders are fully awakp to what they describe as a clumsy attempt to induce the Russians to weaken other sectors by sending troops southward. Nazi Claims While the Moscow newspaper “Pravda” says there have been no important changes in the disposition of the Russian troops because of the Red Army’s might of resistance in smashing the German offensive, Hitler’s headquarters, also the German radio and News Agency, to-day put out claims of success which cannot be ignored in view of the obvious difficulties in which the thrusts in the Ukraine have placed Marshal Budenny’s forces. The German High Command, referring to the capture of the mining centre of Krivoirog, which produces over 19,000,000 tons of high-grade ore each year, says that Russia, by this loss, suffered a shattering economic and military blow. M. Lozovsky (Vice-Chief of the Soviet Information Bureau) characteristically unperturbed, when commenting on the German claim that Odessa was encircled, declared: “Only the Germans’ wishful thinking. When the Russian communiques say nothing important is happening on this front, this means that the Germans have been halted and are not advancing anywhere.” Asked what significance attached to the evacuation of Smolensk, M. Lozovsky said: “Our tactics aim to exact the highest price for each yard of territory, also not to permit encirclement of the Red Army. Every square yard of Smolensk’s soil has been soaked with the blood of many Germans.” Russian Denial Earlier messages state that German claims of sweeping successes in the Ukraine are bluntly denied in Moscow. Nothing of importance had occurred on any of the fronts, according to the Moscow communique, and M. Lozovsky explained that when the Russian communiques used this term, -it means that the German troops had been held up, and could not advance. The Germans claim to have reached the Black Sea coast, surrounding Russian forces in the southern Ukraine. Bulgarian troops, they claim, have reached the coast on both sides of the Bug estuary, surrounding Nikolaev, while Rumanian and Hungarian tipops have occupied the important iron fields 100 miles north-east of Nikolaev. The Berlin radio claims that the Russians have abandoned the western Ukraine, and, as Hitler has gone up to the front line, the campaign might be considered as finished. Focal point of one of the greatest battles of all time, Smolensk, which is now in ruins, has been evacuated by Russian troops; and on the Leningrad

front a new battle has flared up near Staraya Russa, a railway junction 25 miles south of Lake Ilmen and 125 miles south of Leningrad. These are the only indications of German gains given by the Russian High Command in its latest communiques. Mention of Staraya Russa suggests that the Germans have made a 40mile drive from Soltsy since fighting was first announced there last Monday. It also means that the Germans have pushed forward 90 miles since the battle south-west from Leningrad first developed at Pskov. In their drive against Moscow the Germans still have 200 miles of fighting ahead of them before they see the capital. There is no sign of a German break through, for the Russians speak of fighting in the direition of Smolensk.