MASS MOVEMENT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 June 1941, Page 5

MASS MOVEMENT

ARMIES HURLED AGAINST RUSSIA DEEP PENETRATION CLAIMED BY NAZIS. BRIDGEHEAD ON RIVER BUG. LONDON, June 22. The German armies, flung full force against Russia, are moving en masse across the frontiers, while in the far north and south the ends of the vast German line have turned inward. Wave after wave of packed bomber formations go on over their heads, pounding Russian air bases and devastating towns. Berlin’s claims of the extent of the progress on land so far state that German troops have crossed the River Bug on the German-Soviet frontier in ‘Poland, under a fierce artillery barrage established a bridgehead and penetrated deep into Russian territory. Infantry continues to pour in, and large columns, it is stated, are encountering little resistance. German armoured units continue to advance in Bukovina and occupied the town of Gradov.

SOVIET CONFIDENCE DECLARED BY M. MAISKY. LONDON, June 23. The “Daily Telegraph” says that the offer to help Russia, referred to by Mr Churchill, was made when the Foreign Minister, Mr Eden, saw the Soviet Ambassador, M. Maisky. It is understood that M. Maisky said Russia would provide the maximum resistance against Germany with confidence.

ITALY & SPAIN BACKING FOR GERMAN ACTION. VICHY JOINS IN CHORUS. LONDON. June 22. Fascists in Rome wholeheartedly back the German invasion of Russia, important reaction is a sense of relief, and forecast that it will result in Spain, and later Portugal, joining the Axis. There is widespread approval of the invasion in Madrid, but an equallyimportant reaction is a sence of relief, as it is thought that the move will tend to keep the war at the other end of Europe. Officials at Vichy greeted the invasion jubilantly, as “the beginning of the last phase of the European crusade for the unification of the Continent.”