PANIC AND CHAOS

Waikato Times, Volume 193, Issue 22190, 9 November 1943, Page 3

PANIC AND CHAOS

ROUT OF GERMAN FORCES SWEEPING RUSSIAN SUCCESS (Received Nov. 9, 11.45 a.m.) LONDON, Nov. 8 In vividly describing the rout of the German southern front the Pravda gives a world picture of panic and chaos as the troops flee before the Russi?n flying columns, which are striking against their backs, cutting across the escape routes, and smashing up what remains of the German formations.

The paper says: “The swiftness of events defies description. Every German fleeing for his life. Cars, lorries with and without guns, panzers and all sorts of vehicles obstruct the infantry, as, abandoning everything—arms, shells and personal belongings—they seek to escape. Horror-stricken infantrymen and artillerymen, many barefooted, race westwards. Machines collided and jammed the roads. Ambulances overturned. The air was filled with soul-rending cries of the wounded. Maddened Norsemen trampled on men and machines.”

The Moscow correspondent of the British United Press points out that the Russians newspapers have been the most conservative in the world in describing the Russian successes. The Pravda’s description is the first time that such sweeping claims of Russian success have been made. Brigadier Cerff, a German Black Guard general, speaking at Liherec, in Czecho-Slovakia, said: “There are many questions which cannot be answered in wartime, but one thing can be said with certainty—everything will be lost and all our possessions will be swept away by the tide from the steppes if we do not hold out in this battle.”