BATTLE GROWS FIERCER

Waikato Times, Volume 129, Issue 21526, 15 September 1941, Page 5

BATTLE GROWS FIERCER

GRIM STRUGGLE FOR LENINGRAD OUTER DEFENCES PENETRATED BY GERMANS BRITISH FLIERS ARRIVE TO HELP RUSSIANS LONDON, Sept. 14 The battle for Leningrad is growing fiercer and more grim every day. The Russians made no mention of the fighting near the city today, but the Germans claim to have penetrated the outer defences in some sectors and they are promising the German public results very shortly. The Russians stated that the Germans are throwing new reserve troops and all their available planes, including the latest fighters, Messerschmitt 115’s, into the fight. The Germans make no mention of the central sector, where the Russians state they still hold the initiative. The threat to Kiev is still dangerous, but in the Odessa sector there does not appear to be much change. The Vichy radio announced today that the Finnish threat to the north of Leningrad has neen removed by Marshal Mannerheim transferring his troops to fight the Russians further north. British help to Russia is rapidly increasing. It was announced today in London that a Royal Air Force Wing—complete with planes, pilots and ground staff—has arrived in Russia, while further blows have been struck at the German lines of communication to their troops on Russia's Arctic coast. Hitler's war against Russia is becoming more and more a race against time. The Germans say that Leningrad, Moscow and Kiev must fall before November 5 because they believe that winter really starts in northern Russia about that date.

Russian Counter-attack Despatches from the front reveal that the Russians have launched a counter-attack which threatens to isolate the German forces besieging Leningrad. They are pushing the Germans back along the MoscowLatvia railway, 250 miles south of Leningrad. This threat from the south is the reason for Field-Marshal von Loeb's desperate bid to capture Leningrad within a few days, says the Stockholm correspondent of the Times, but the German commander is bound to be disappointed, because scarcely anywhere are his forces within 20 miles of Leningrad. The Germans cannot maintain the present offensive for long. They are battling through driving rain along shell-tom roads and under fire from heavy artillery and thousands of machine-guns which are concentrated along a vast chain of steel casemates and underground fortresses. Marshal Timoshenko, in command of the central sector, has taken the offensive near the Valdai Hills. The German armies in this neighbourhood are partly hemmed in by Lake Peipus and the Gulf of Finland, with the unbeaten forces of Marshal Voroshiloff also between the Valdai Hills and the immediate eastern approaches to Leningrad. Moscow reports state that armoured trains, operating over a vast net work of lines, are hitting the Finns in the north and the Germans in the south. They made devastating attacks, repelling enemy assaults against stations and bridgeheads. They also smashed tank columns and helped to bottle up the Finns between the lakes north-east of Leningrad. Resistance at Odessa A Moscow communique states that last night Russian troops engaged the enemy along the whole front. Stubborn fighting along the whole front continued also throughout Sunday. Odessa is still resisting firmly. The Rumanians claim that they have taken a height from which they can shell the city. Earlier reports said that at least seven great battles raging simultaneously on the Russian front have carried the war to new heights of intensity and ferocity. The British United Press correspondent in Berlin says the Germans admit that Marshal Voroshiloff has launched twin counter-attacks across the River Luga. south of Leningrad, and the Volkhov, south-east of the city.

ARRIVAL IN RUSSIA WING OF ROYAL AIR FORCE (Omcial Wireless) (Received Sept. 15, 11 a.m.) RUGBY, Sept. 14 The announcement of the arrival of a wing of the Royal Air Force in Russia recalls Mr Winston Churchill’s recent statement that hundreds of British fighters had been sent there and many had arrived. No indication was then given, however, that the planes would be piloted and serviced by Royal Air Force personnel. A wing of the Royal Air Force is a self-contained unit of airmen, ground personnel and at least two squadrons of aircraft. The term “wing” is elastic and no precise figure can be given for the number of aircraft. HITLER’S HEADQUARTERS CAMOUFLAGED ENCAMPMENT (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, Sept. 14 Hitler’s headquarters on the Eastern front are in a camouflaged encampment in the depths of a forest, says the British United Press, quoting a report from a German source. The encampment is enclosed by barbed wire and bristles with antiaircraft batteries. It is guarded by a double line of sentries from Hitler’s personal bodyguard. The headquarters consist of Hitler’s armoured train, many onestorey buildings and vehicles like caravans. These provide living quarters for Hitler and his large staff, and reception rooms for guests. Hitler spends several hours every day in two large map rooms. SEVERE CASUALTIES DEATH BEFORE SURRENDER (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, Sept. 13 The enemy’s realisation that Russia is a redoubtable fortress is indicated in the following message to the Berliner Tageblatt by the war correspondent on the Finnish front:—

“According to information received from Finnish General Staff officers it would be wrong to assume that the Russian General Staff has lost its judgment on the actual positions on the front. On the contrary, it is well-formed. “Finnish commanders state that the Red troops fight very stubbornly, not caring whether the position is hopeless or whether the attack comes from the rear or in the front. The fact that the Red soldiers fight fanatically, preferring death to surrender, is the cause of the severe losses on both sides.”

Military experts in London say that reports of colossal losses on both sides are authentic, indicating that Germany is not counting the cost in men and material in her anxiety to deliver a decisive blow. The battle for Leningrad is still the bloodiest struggle in the immense chain of ferocious conflicts, in which no quarter is asked and no quarter given.

Germans’ Huge Losses The great battle which has been proceeding since the end of August in the Bryansk area, south-east of Smolensk, is described in an article in the Red Star. The writer states that the Germans broke through late in August in the direction of Bryansk but the Red Army, in a counterattack launched on September 1, routed the 47th and 29th Tank Corps and the 17th and 18th Motorised Divisions, mainly in the battle of Troubchevsk. The Germans lost nearly 10.000 officers and men. over 260 tanks, 600 vehicles and 100 field guns. The 29th Motorised Division was also broken up and forced to retreat. Twenty-six towns and villages have been recaptured by the advancing Soviet forces. Describing the great part played by the Red air force, the writer says that in the course of a week Soviet bombers dropped 29,000 bombs. The battle, he says, is proceeding. FIGHTING IN ARCTIC ATTACK BY AUSTRIAN’S

The statement in the Russian night communique that Chernigov, north of Kiev, has been evacuated, says the British official wireless, is felt in authoritive circles to show that the extremely dangerous German thrust south-east from the Gomel area has made considerable progress. If carried further this German move would constitute a very grave threat to Kiev itself and the whole of the Dnieper defences. Heavy fighting has developed north and north-east of Kiev. The enemy strategy would appear to be to drive south-eastward to turn the Dnieper defences and envelop the Russian forces based on the Kiev-Kharkov axis. New Monster Tank The Germans state that in the Smolensk sector the Russians are using ne\v monster tanks. One of them captured weighed 64 tons and , had a crew of 13.

(United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, Sept. 13

The Daily Telegraph’s Stockholm correspondent says Austrian troops, reinforced by a division from the north of Norway, have taken up an offensive against Murmansk The battle is raging along the River XJsta, 15 miles inside the Russian frontier.