BATTLE FOR LENINGRAD

Waikato Times, Volume 129, Issue 21525, 13 September 1941, Page 7

BATTLE FOR LENINGRAD

CONFIDENCE OF RUSSIAN FORCES “GERMANS WILL NEVER ENTER CITY” NAZIS’ TREMENDOUS LOSSES MEN AND MACHINES LONDON, Sept. 12 “ Although I cannot give any detailed account of the battle for Leningrad I can say that the Germans will never set foot in our city,” said M. Lozovsky, Soviet Pres? Chief, today. “ The Germans are striving with all their vigour for a quick victory and this is impossible for them to achieve. They cannot keep up such pressure for long. They are losing tremendous numbers of men and machines and have not, for all their efforts, been able to seriously affect the city with their bombings. Women as well as men are engaged in the historic defence of our city.” Moscow admits that the great industrial city of Kiev is still in grave danger, some German units attacking it from the rear. In the central sector the Russians are counter-attacking, while around Odessa there appears to be little change. The Royal Air Force has heavily bombed a German base on the Arctic Coast, from which the attack on Murmansk is being directed.

Fierce Air Attacks The Russians state that air battles are being fought over the approaches to Leningrad, and claim to have shot down 81 raiders on Tuesday, losing 41 themselves. All unofficial reports agree that that the German troops are nowhere within 20 miles of the city. The Russians claim that the railway link between Leningrad and Moscow is unbroken. The Stockholm correspondent of the Daily Telegraph says waves of Stukas and Heinkels, 200 at a time, escorted by fighters, are attacking Leningrad. There has been considerable damage and many casualties. In one day in air battles around Leningrad one Russian pilot shot down as many as 12 enemy machines, and others 10, eight and five.

The military correspondent of the New York Post, Fletcher Pratt, does not agree with the optimists who believe Russia is driving towards success. The Red Army’s position, he says, is desperate. At the best they have delayed the Germans’ schedule, but the defence of Leningrad is a mistake, because it is more important to save a million troops than to the city. The German official news agency admits repeated Russian counterattacks of varying strength in the sector eastward of Smolensk and Gomel, but claims that these have ceased. It states that Smolensk and Gomel are still in German hands. Reuter states that the Germans do not seem to have crossed the lower Dnieper in force since the fall of Dnepropetrovsk. German Fear of Melancholia Germany, making preparations for winter war in Russia and the Arctic, fears the spread of melancholia among the Nazi troops in the white north. Melancholia was very prevalent among German troops in Northern Norway last winter. It is caused by the loneliness and darkness and the monotony forced by the inactivity of winter warfare. Active operations beyond patrolling and sentry work is impracticable in the Arctic winter.

Melancholia quickly spreads among strangers, although the Lapps and Finns are largely immune to it. Its prevalence in Norway last winter compelled the Germans to send large numbers of troops home for a change. But it is difficult to do this on a large scale from the Arctic regions of Finland. Therefore it is expected that the Germans will try hard to avoid a winter campaign thers. According to the Soviet news agency, German prisoners report that dysentery has broken out among the German troops, and the doctors are handicapped by lack of medical supplies. The Germans are also complaining of a dearth of warm clothing, and are fearing the approach of winter. According to the Daily Telegraph, information has reached London that the German casualties on the Russian front have been so heavy that the Germans have run out of linen and are now using paper bandages for dressing wounds.

INSPECTION BY KINO COMPLETE ARMOURED DIVISION GREAT MILITARY PARADE (omcial Wireless) (Received Sept. 13, 1 p.m.) RUGBY, Sept. 12 A complete armoured division—the greatest military parade of armoured vehicles ever held in Britain—was inspected by the King and the Duke of Gloucester in East Anglia. The King for an hour and a-half passed long lines of Valentine and Matilda tanks, manned by the famous Lancer Regiment and the Country Yeomanry Regiments, “ horse artillery,” consisting of 25-pounders and an anti-tank regiment, armoured cars, Bren gun-carriers, scout cars, troop cars, and supply lorries. The roar of the tank engines thundered out over the quiet heath when the whole of the fighting vehicles later “ marched past ” the King, and a squadron of aircraft, which also formed part of the division, dived to within a tew feet of the ground in perfect formation. Driving three abreast, the tanks thundered past the base, with each commander sitting high up in the turret and maintaining wireless communications with headquarters. BOMBER DESTROYED RAID ON BRITAIN (OmcUl Wireless) (Received Sept. 13, 1.30 p.m.) RUGBY, Sept. 12 It was announced at midnight that an enemy bomber had been destroyed over Britain.