NAZIS IMPRESSED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 July 1941, Page 5

NAZIS IMPRESSED

POWER OF RUSSIAN TANKS & GUNS AND ENORMOUS RESERVES OF MANPOWER. BUOYANT OPTIMISM IN MOSCOW. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) LONDON. July 7. “We will not give the Germans a chance to take breath; we will counter-attack immediately they pause,” said the deputy-chief of the Soviet Information Bureau, M. Lozovsky, denying the German assertions that there have been 50,000 Russian deserters in an interview typical of the buoyant optimism that is prevalent in Moscow. “We inflicted losses in the first 12 days averaging 60.000 killed and wounded daily, and they have since risen.” he said. "We have thrice Germany’s manpower. “Our guerrillas,” he added, “are providing fierce resistance in the German rear.

“The mobilisation of the regular army is still incomplete, but we are already organising at high speed a reserve army numbering millions, including all men between 17 and 55,” he added. From several German sources come tributes to the mounting might of Russia. Swiss correspondents in Berlin declare that the German specialists are most' impressed with the Russian tank forces. The “Neue Zuercher” says the Russians are using tanks ranging from 15-ton ones to giants with 5-centimetre guns and other 60-tonners armed with a howitzer, two light guns and several machine-guns. The 60-tonners are stated to be practically invulnerable. All the tanks and guns appear to be brand new, cleanly designed, and finished well, and it is maintained that they are indicative of the Soviet’s vast armament industry. The Russians’ technical equipment is plentiful, and whenever they have retreated they have done so in good order, abandoning none of their material. The Moscow radio, broadcasting to the troops, said: "The Russian guns, machine-guns, and artillery, are second to none, and we have enough of them to arm the whole country. Our arms will answer the Germans gun for gun. We have enough metal to crush the invader, and our designers are working ceaselessly evolving new powerful weapons.”

The Moscow radio alleges that sham wooden tanks have appeared in the German formations in which the first tank only is real and the remainder are wooden and are armed only with machine-guns.