MORE PRESSURE ON MOSCOW

Timaru Herald, Volume CL, Issue 22125, 20 November 1941, Page 5

MORE PRESSURE ON MOSCOW

NAZIS ATTEMPT NEW DRIVE Fierce Russian CounterAttacks British Official Wireless (Rec. 1 a.m.) RUGBY, Nov. 19. An account of recent events and the present situation on the Moscow front given by the Moscow radio makes it clear that the Germans are again pressing very hard on all sectors of this front. “On Monday the enemy threw into the battle a great number of tanks a~d infantry in an attempt to break through our defence line in several places. Red Army units answered with fierce counter-attacks. In the Volokalamsk area, the enemy, suffering heavy losses, succeeded in pressing back our troops a little and took some villages and a railway station. In the evening our troops by daring counter-attack drove the enemy away from the station and captured three villages. In the direction of Mojaisk our troops are continuing to defend heroically their positions and in some places are pushing forward. “In the region ‘T’ the Germans attempted to advance using not only real tanks but wooden mock tanks, trying to give the Impression of a fierce tank attack. This trick failed, one real tank and three wooden tanks being destroyed. In the Malo Yaroslavets and Tula areas during the last 24 hours no important changes have taken place. Both sides are shelling the opposing positions. At Tula the enemy is continuing to bring up reinforcements. Since Saturday fierce fighting has t ken place in the Kalinin sector where the Germans have flung in increasing numbers of tanks and motorised infantry. Soviet troops claim to have repulsed these attacks and also to have frustrated German attempts to cross the Volga. Two regiments of infantry supported by tanks and armoured cars attempted a crossing and in two days 2800 Germans were killed and wounded and 70 enemy tanks and armoured cars were destroyed.” It is generally considered in Berlin that the fall of Kerch means that the struggle for the Caucasian oil has begun, states a message from Stockholm.

German military quarters state that the crossing of the Kerch Straits presents no serious problem. They anticipate that the British will take over the defences of the Baku oilfields, and although there are no reports yet of British aeroplanes based in Iran operating against the Germans, this development is expected soon. The capture of Kerch, though not confirmed in London, is not regarded as improbable. There is no confirmation from Russian sources of a report that the Russians are evacuating the Eastern Crimea, but it is thought in London that they might be attempting to do so. The naval base of Sebastopol is still holding out, although its defences are being heavily dive-bombed. If the Germans have captured Kerch they are now within 15 miles of the mainland of the Caucasus, with its rich oil wells. But before they can try to cross the eight miles of sea between the Crimea and the Caucasus they will have to take the fortress of Yenikale, seven miles east of Kerch. Yenikale has not yet been mentioned by either side as a scene of fighting. Brisk Russian Sea Traffic Although the Germans have many times claimed that Russian merchantmen and warships are bottled up at the eastern end of the Gulf of Finland, the Finns now report that brisk Russian sea traffic continues practice ”y without interruption between the Russian garrisons at Hanko and Leningrad.

The Stockholm correspondent of “The Times” says that Finnish troops augmented by volunteers from neighbouring countries have scarcely progressed a yard since they began operations against the Peninsula at Hanko. The bombing of the Murmansk railway between Lake Onega and the White Sea continues but approximately only one third of the railway between Petrozavodsk and the White Sea is occupied. The most advanced Finnish forces are still among the intricate inlets of north Onega. The Finns have pushed northwards along the railway firm Petrozavodsk to ’ a point some 150 miles southward of Soroka a junction with the railway to Arch angel and therefore communications between Murmansk and Archangel through Soroka are not v“‘ immediately threatened by the Finns from this direction. The Germans and Finns are co-operating from Salla towards Kandalaksha and are at present believed to be within 50 miles of the Murmansk railway.

The midnight Soviet communique states: “There was fighting during the day on the whole front, and particularly severe) in the Kalinin and Volokolamsk regions and one sector of the south-western front. Our troops beat off enemy attacks, destroying their equipment and wiping out their manpower. On November 18 German aircraft were destroyed. We lost four. On the same date an air. unit on-rating over the western and southern fronts destroyed 10 German tanks, more than 60 army lorries, over 60 cars, four field guns and about one infantry battalion. On November 16 and 17 our troops destroyed 16 tanks, 30 lorries, 10 army cars and captured six guns, besides destroying other guns. During night of November 17-18 and the day of November 18, several groups of German aircraft tried to bomb Moscow. In air battles and from anti-aircraft fire 13 aircraft were shot down over the approaches to the city. We lost two. Several enemy aircraft dropped high explosives on nonmilitary obiectives, and there was a small number of casualties.” Among the exploits of anti-tank men described in the communique is the story of how an anti-tank unit allowI ed a German tank column to approach and then set eight of the tanks on fire. New Drive Strongly Resisted The Russians are sternly resisting a new German drive eastwards from Orel, in which two German tank divisions are participating. The Soviet commander was forced to withdraw his men under the first Geman attack, which began last Thursday. The Germans, following up, captured certain villages, but suffered heavily in making these initial gains, and the question is how soon their drive will lose its momentum. The objective of this thrust, which accompanied an attempt to move eastwards from Kursk, is obviously to reach the vital railway running from Rostiv to Moscow, through Voronej. This bid to separate Moscow from the southern front is a corollary of the pushes in the Tikhvin and Volkhov regions, aiming to separate Moscow from the Leningrad front. “Red Star” emphasises the danger of these operations, and states that it

would suit Hitler’s purpose admirably if he could split the present 1500-mile front into a number of small fronts, each with its own specific objective. By this means Hitler could hold such fronts as he wished, keep them <-■-‘et with a minimum number of men, nd so reduce the number of troops compelled to endure the hardships of a winter campaign in the open. Hitler, simultaneously, would not lose the general initiative on the E. stern Front. Realising this, “Red Star” affirms the necessity of compelling the enemy to freeze by wintering in the open fields, and adds: “It is wrong, however, to think that winter itself might exhaust the Germans. It might make the scope of operations narrower, but it cannot halt the German offensive. Only Russian activity and steadiness can do that.' “Pravda" reports that two attempts by German Infantry, supported by tanks, to break through the Soviet defences on the approaches to Rostiv were repulsed with heavy losses.