GERMAN CLAIMS REFUTED

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 229, 29 September 1941, Page 5

GERMAN CLAIMS REFUTED

RUSSIANS CONFIDENT THAT LENINGRAD WILL HOLD NO ENEMY HAS SET FOOT IN CRIMEA “EASTWARD LIES THE GRAVE OF NAZI GERMANY” London, Sept. 28. Confidence in liie ability of Leningrad to withstand the German attacks was expressed by AL. Lozovsky, Soviet Cabinet .spokesman, who said that not one German soldier had set foot in the Crimea. Fierce battles were raging in that sector, but all of them outside Crimea itself. Al. Lozovsky ridiculed the German claim to have captured hundreds of thousands of Russians east of Kiev. "The further east the Germans go the nearer they get to the grave of Nazi Germany.” he declared. (Heed. 7.15 p.m. > London, Sept. 27. A Moscow message says that the German drive in the eastern Ukraine appears to have slowed down. Jt is not clear what the next German move will be. Extravagant claims of the encirclement of hundreds of thousands of Russians east of Kiev are denied. The bulk of the Russian troops were evacuated from Kiev in an organised manner and in the final stages the rearguard action to cover the withdrawal of the Red Army regulars was entrusted to the Civil Home Guards. Important pockets of resistance in parts of German-occupied Ukraine include not only the Odessa area, but a substantial region in the Kherson sector on the lower Dnieper. The Tass agency reports that the defence of Odessa is proceeding courageously, vigorously and determinedly. Tanks and armoured vehicles are being assembled at unprecedented speed and immediately rushed from the factories to the front line.

The Leningrad radio, reporting the latest about the fighting for the city, says: “The enemy tried to penetrate our lines on the Finnish side of the defences but were stopped by fire from close range. The fighting rageel for two days, at the end of which the Finns had lost 600 killed and a great quantity of equ.’.ment. Colonel Bondarev's unit, in cooperation with artillery, killed at least 2000 Germans, pierced the enemy’s lines, pursued the retreating forces, ami reoccupied several villages. A determined effort by picked Germans to break through at Staraya Russa was checked, reports the Moscow radio. The Germans were dislodged from a strategically - important position and lost 1500 in two days’ fighting. The Daily Telegraph s Stockholm correspondent says the Russians le- , pulsea a large-scare altaea al Orair.enourg. Tne Germans now annul tnat | Schusselburg is in Russian nanus, j out says tnat German ana Finnish ■ troops are steadily approaching it.! The Finns claim i.iat Iney nave taken Kandalaksha, unis cutting the Russian line to Murmansk. it is revealed tnat the Russians removed between 60 and io submannes from Kronstadt via the Volga-Mos- j cow Canal to the Caspian Sea. whence j they are going io the Biacic Sea oy i river and can„i. The remainder at I Kronstaat are too large for the [ canals. Mr. Ralph Ingersoll, who arrived at Cairo, sa.fi that v> ell-inrormed quarters in Moscow deciare that tne Germans suftereu a muion casualties Throughout tne journey from Moscow he saw no signs or retugee panic. The food situation in Russia was good. The soldiers' equipment wass uhic.enl There were no apparent signs of airraid damage in jruscow, wiucn is surrounded by a 30-nrile belt of antiaircraft defences. Russian transport is excellent ana masses of reserves can be seen on every hand, he addeu. A supplementary Russian mia-daj • communique state-: ‘'According to in-1 complete reports on the approc-cnes to I Leningrad uur.ng the last few days, we destroyed nure tnaa iojo oermanl officers and men, 66 enemy | 34 tames, more bran oO guns, 30 macmne-guiis, 30u throw.---, up toi 100 rnoloi venicles and a large iiuinocr I of rifles, automatic guns ana ammu-I nition. "On Thursday the enemy tried to| launcii an olrens-ve on one ot tne J sectors ot the Leningrad l.om, but' was thrown back w.m neavy looses.; More than 200 bodies or Germa..; officers and men were lert on tne battlefield.' —U.P.A. ißecd. 6.20 p.m.i Rugby , Sept. 2i , A Russian mid-day communique • state.,: "rigiiting is continuing on the! entire from." In the north it appeals that’ the! Russians still hold pari, al least, of tne i island of Oesei. in the LiKiame a; German column, operating irom Kre- j menchug, has reached roitava, aboutl half way to Kharkov. Rain is leporved west of Kharkov—this being un-I usual for the time of the year. Tne! attack on the Crimea continues, but; there is no confirmation m London! that the Germans have been using ‘ parachute troops. The position at! present appears to be that a German force has cut «he railway leading from Crimea to Kharkov, and has reached the shores of the Sea of Azov, while a German attack is in progress agaiMt Russian positions on the Estomus archop. ‘Tn the fighnng in the Leningrad sector our troops killed 500 officers and men. destroy'd five German guns,! six mortars and numerous vehicles, i and captured three enemy tanks," says a Russian communique. "On Wednesday 50 enemy planes were destroyed oy bombs on an aerodrome in a western direction of the front, and a number of ammunition dumps were blown up. In spite of; heavy anti-aircraft fire, all our planes returned. “In a sector of the south-western front, the staff of a battalion of the | 137th Infantry Regiment was wiped out.”—B.O.W. I

(Reed. 9 p.m > London, Sept. 27. A broadcast Irom Odessa said the defenders had resumed the initiative and are pushing back the enemy north-westward. A Berlin spokesman said that with I dead and wounded the Russian losses j east of Kiev were more than a million I men. I The German claims to the capture ' o£ hundreds of thousands in the Kiev I region are mere wishful thinking. I Fierce fighting continues there,” says I M. Lozovsky. Soviet Cabinet spokesI man. who adds: "The Germans are I making a desperate effort to capture j Crimea, but fighting is still outside I Crimea proper, including the I isthmus.” ! M. Lozovsky added that the Germans have not gained a foothold on Oesei Island and land communications with Leningrad are not interrupted. The German navy had sustained such losses in attempts with destroyers and U-boats to seize Baltic positions that they have not wished to risk the remnants of the fleet in big onslaughts. Only their small craft are now active.—U.P.A. A Stockholm message says the Germans claim to be now attacking Leningrad’s third defensive line, running from Peterhof to 7 rotsky, thence to Neva. The Tass agency says a Russian unit was required to destroy a fuel depot in the path of the Germans. It bashed holes in the tanks and allowed the petrol to run out while awaiting the withdrawal of the last of the Russian troops. The wreckers then withdrew and the Germans advanced knee-deep in petrol which the Russians set on fire with incendiary shells. Two battalions of Germans were incinerated. —U.F.A.