FIERCE BATTLES

Waikato Times, Volume 129, Issue 21533, 23 September 1941, Page 6

FIERCE BATTLES

STRUGGLE IN RUSSIA GREAT NAZI PRESSURE RUSSIAN COUNTERATTACK (United Press Assn.—Eleo. Tel. Copyright) (Received Sept. 23, 3.15 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 22 Desperate fighting continues unremittingly along the whole Eastern front, but except at a few points the Germans are not advancing because the task of consolidating their gains claims their first attention. The Times correspondent on the German frontier says a notable exception to the si oweddown advance is at Mariupol, where the Germans report that they have met with no serious resistance, hence they expect to reach Rostov without difficulty. The Germans are proclaiming exultingly that this proves what has often been reported recently—namely, that the Russian resistance is weakening, indicating that the German High Command tactics—to exhaust the Russian reserves of highly trained men and capture and destroy war material— are compelling the Russians to use half-trained troops for further operations, thereby lessening the danger to the Germans of the inherent inexhaustibility of Russian man-power. Neither side has issued very informative reports regarding the fighting in the Leningrad area, which indicates that the Germans are having no further successes. Marshal Timoshenko’s efforts to relieve Leningrad by counter-attack-ing further south have been successful, insofar as General von Leeb has been forced hastily to send General von Bock renforcements, thus reducing the pressure against the belt of Leningrad forts. This reduction of pressure has enabled Marshal Voroshiloff’s beseiged forces to drive out the German attackers from certain positions in the fort belt, but Marshal Voroshiloff is not strong enough to break through. Attack With Bayonets The Moscow radio said that after one Soviet counter-attack with bayonets the Germans fell back seven and a-half miles. The Times correspondent on the German frontier says that Marshal Budenny is following his customary tactics of making super-human efforts to break through the German forces eastwards of Kiev with the greater part of his armies, while leaving enough to keep the Germans cleaning up for a considerable time, thereby increasing the main body’s chances of escape before the Germans strengthen the ring. General von Rundstedt’s drive to Azov has completely isolated the Crimea by land, but the Russians are stubbornly defending the very powerful Crimean fortifications. Military commentators in Berlin do not believe that a great part of Marshal Budenny’s forces was cut off in the Crimea, presuming that the main body is withdrawn for the defence of Kharkov and Rostov. Hurling Back Attackers Odessa is hurling back the attackers, although, according to reports from Rome, the Rumanians, after heavy fighting, have now captured Ovidiopol and are advancing along the coast towards Odessa. Britishers, included in a partyXof non-Russian journalists, were taken to the front for the first time and toured territory in the Smolensk region recaptured by the Russians. They visited the battlefield at Yelnia, where the Germans were driven twelve miles westward of the town and are still retreating, after eight divisions have been badly mauled. They also saw the scene of the Yartsevo victory, where the Russians regained 6 to 10 miles along a sixtymiles salient after destroying or crippling ten divisions. Reuters’ correspondent says the recaptured piece of Russia contains many “guernicas” destroyed by the Germans in terror raids, also villages flattened .out by shellfire and the graves of thousands of Russian and German soldiers. When the Germans on the night of September 4 decided to evacuate Yelnia they ordered the few remaining inhabitants to assemble inside a church, which was then locked, after which the Germans systematically set fire to every house. Thus Yelnia was an inferno when the Russian troops reentered.