OFFENSIVE COLLAPSING

Waikato Times, Volume 129, Issue 21486, 30 July 1941, Page 5

OFFENSIVE COLLAPSING

RUSSIANS’ BIG COUNTER-ATTACK NEW TANKS OF TREMENDOUS POWER ADMISSION BY GERMANS GREAT CRISIS LONDON, July 29 There are signs that the Germans’ second big offensive against Russia is collapsing and the Russians are counterattacking strongly in practically all sectors. In the central sector the fierce battle for Smolensk is still raging and it is apparent from the latest communiques that the Germans have not taken the city. The Russians are throwing 100-ton tanks into the battle, the German radio stating that these machines are rolling 1 forts with tremendous fire-power. The gigantic battle and the heavy German losses are described by a German military authority as the “ greatest crisis of the war.” According to the Berlin radio today, the German military spokesman said the weather was making the German advance in the southern sector very difficult. The London Evening Standard suggests that a second lull is beginning on the Russian front. “It would seem that the great battle of Smolensk has been fought and that the Russians have won,” said the commentator Mr Robert Fraser.

Nazi Attack Breaking The Moscow communique this morning stated: “The enemy offensive in the direction of Smolensk (the Moscow front) and Jitomir (the Ukraine front) is breaking against the stubbornness of our troops. At some points we are energetically counter-attacking and are inflicting heavy losses. No important battles are going on elsewhere. Our coastal defences in the Baltic and our fleet air arm sank one enemy destroyer and two patrol vessels, while we lost a destroyer/’ The Moscow radio stated that between 140 and 150 German aeroplanes tried to raid Moscow* last night, but anti-aircraft guns and night fighters dispersed the enemy formations and prevented them from reaching Mos- j cow. Only four or five reached the city and at least nine of those attempting the raid were shot down. Giant Russian Tank According to the German official war correspondent, the Russian 120ton tank used at Lwow had a crew of between nine and 12, and was armed with three 4in guns and four machine-guns. Its speed was six miles an hour in low gear and 30 in high gear. The correspondent says that the tank was ill-designed and ill-mani-pulated, but very heavily armoured. It was captured because it ran out of ammunition and fuel. The Berlin News Agency stated that the destruction of Russians in | the Mohilev area proceeded rapidly yesterday, when the Germans took prisoners a further 23,000, making a total of 35,000. 700,000 CASUALTIES NAZIS' HUGE LOSSES ANOTHER DRIVE IMPENDING (United press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright, (Received July 30, 11.20 a.m.) LONDON, July 29 A third great German thrust against Russia is impending, according to the Daily Telegraph's Stockholm corespondent, who has previously been notably accurate in his reports ol the fighting. The new drive will not be on such a formidable scale as those with which the Russians have shown themselves able to deal. The correspondent bases this forecast on the belief that the German mechanised units have been so severely crippled that they have had to call on inferior Italian machines, and on reports of gaps in the infantry ranks having to be filled by inexperienced troops. The second main German offensive in the direction of Smolensk and Jitomir has almost petered out. The German claims regarding Leningrad are described by the correspondent as ridiculous. The most likely position is that German armoured units are operating in the Trotsk area, south of Leningrad, but the main infantry forces have still not made headway against the Russians. Similarly, the Finnish claim that they are threatening Leningrad is discounted by all correspondents. The Express correspondent at Istanbul has been reliably informed that Germany has lost more than 700.000 men and 6000 armoured vehicles. Claims by Germans Today’s German communique claims that the Rumanian troops have reached the Dniester estuary, thus Bessarabia is free of the enemy. Operations in the Ukraine are progressing. We have now substantially wiped out the groups of Soviet forces which were overtaken during the break-through on the Stalin Line in Smolensk. In Estonia enemy forces were encircled west of Lake Peipus and face annihilation. The Luftwaffe last night effectively bombed Moscow ammunition factories, public utility plants and communications. “ONE HUGE HORROR” NAZI’S ACCOUNT OF WAR (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, July 29 The horrors which German soldiers are suffering on the Russian front are described by one soldier in a letter. "This is the worst war Germany has had to fight,” he wrote. “It is a war in which the enemy is continuing to fight with desperate obstinacy even in

GERMANS DISAPPOINTED NO MARKED ADVANCE RUSSIAN RESISTANCE (Official Wireless) (Received July 30, 11 a.m.) RUGBY, July 29 According to information reaching military circles in London there has been no marked advance by the Germans in any sector on the Eastern Front. There appears to have been some advance in the Jitomir direction, where it is possible the Russians are straightening their line in order 1 to prevent an outflanking movement from the north. To date the Germans have achieved none of the aims which they set themselves, and which in five weeks’ fighting they have constantly assured their people were on the verge of attainment. They have not yet taken Moscow, Leningrad or Kiev, which were the goals of their main drives. As a result of the stubborn, unabated Russian resistance German propaganda recently switched over to the claim that territorial gain has not been nor will be the aim of German strategy, which is to destroy the Russian armies in the field. In this they have been no more successful than in the capture of the three cities. A factor which may prove of the , greatest importance in deciding the I result of the war is the possibility or otherwise of Russia being able properly to equip her vast reserves from Central Russia for the present front, which must by now' be nearly fully mobilised, but which have not yet participated in the fighting. Blows By Air Force An afternoon Russian communique states: Our air force, in co-operation with the land troops, inflicted blows on large groupings of the enemy and on the air force on his aerodromes. SEVERANCE OF RELATIONS FINNISH ACTION REGRETTED (Official Wireless} (Received July 30, 11 a.m.) RUGBY, July 29 The Finnish action in breaking off diplomatic relations with Britain is viewed with considerable regret in London. As announced recently in both the House of Lords and the House of Commons, in view of the iong-established friendship of the two countries the British Government did not itself intend, at least at present, to take the initiative thus effecting the rupture of relations, despite the similarity of the situation existing between Finland and Germany with that which arose in the cases of Rumania, Bulgaria and Hungary. The declaration by Finland of a state of “co-belligerency” with Germany and all that it implies cannot but be regarded with regret. The immediate material effect of the severance of relations will, of course, be the withdrawal of Ministers. Other matters which may be involved are receiving careful consideration. It was stated today that only a very few of the British volunteers who fought on the Finnish side of the Russian-Finnish war remain in Finland, the great majority having already gone to Sweden. Finland’s decision to break off diplomatic relations with Britain, obviously made under severe German pressure, has relieved Britain of a delicate and unpleasant task, says the diplomatic correspondent of the Daily Telegraph. “Since we openly pronounced a state of alliance with Russia, it has been embarrassing to maintain relations with a country which has declared war against the Soviet Union,” says the correspondent. “It has been possible to maintain the anomalous position of the past few weeks only because Finland stressed that she was not an active belligerent.”