MOSCOW REPORT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 June 1941, Page 5

MOSCOW REPORT

FIERCE TANK BATTLE IN MINSK & OTHER SECTORS. NAZI PARACHUTISTS ROUNDED UP. LONDON, June 27. The Moscow Information Bureau states: “Our troops were in fierce combat with large enemy tank units in the Minsk sector on June 26 and fighting is progressing. A big and fierce tank battle raged in Luck sector with an obvious advantage to the Russians. “The Russians in the Cernauti sector successfully frustrated enemy attempts to force the River Pruth. The Russians on the Bessarabian front firmly maintained their positions, holding the enemy at the frontier. We repulsed all the German and Rumanian attacks. The enemy attempting to advance from Sculeni was driven back to the western bank of the River Pruth with heavy losses. “Our air force bombed Bucharest. Ploesti and Constanta. Several oil plants at Ploesti were set on fire. “There were no encounters on the Russian-Finnish frontier. “Our planes and naval units sank two U-boats in the Baltic Sea. “The Luftwaffe carried out no particular activities. Enemy fighters only slightly resisted our bombers. The plane losses have not yet been ascertained.

RUMANIANS NOT TRUSTED. “Rumanian, soldiers taken prisoner state that there are 40 German officers and soldiers in each Rumanian regiment. German artillery is placed behind the Rumanian troops because the Germans do not trust the Rumanians. The Germans are driving the Rumanians into battle by force and the Rumanians are against the war and against the Germans. “Our bombing caused great havoc among military objectives at Jassy. “The enemy appeared in the White Russian area wearing Red Army uniforms. Some were killed and others taken prisoner. Some parachutists dropped in another White Russian area and attempted to destroy a radio station, but all were shot.” The Moscow radio states that peasants rounded up German parachutists dropped at a number of points behind the Russian lines. According to the Kaunas radio, the Germans entered the town on June 24. It was alleged that the Russians carried out severe destruction in the town before retreating. Bombs are raining on many towns of the several once-independent countries in an enormous aerial war. RUSSIAN AIR ACTIVITY. The Russian air force, which the Germans claimed was destroyed, is hitting back hard and the Germans by no means possess air 'supremacy, says the “Daily Telegraph’s” Stockholm correspondent. Russian bombers have achieved special success at Warsaw, where there are vast petrol supplies on which the Germans in the central front depend. It is uncertain whether the petrol dumps were hit, but severe fires were started in the centre and outskirts of the city. Scores of planes are attacking Bucharest, though the Stefan i news agency claims that the damage is insignificant. However, the agency’s Helsinki correspondent reports that the latest Soviet bombing of Turku caused enormous damage. The Germans allege that the Russians’ bombing of Hungarian villages resulted in severe damage. The captain of a Panama tanker who saw the Soviet raids on Constanta says the planes came in six large waves of thirty. Searchlights tried to locate the planes but only two were operating when the raid ended. Large fires were blazing and the port was apparently severely damaged.

ASSURANCES OF AID GIVEN BY UNITED STATES TO SOVIET. WASHINGTON, June 27. The United Press states that Russia formally notified the United States of Germany’s “predatory attack” and received assurances of assistance. BROADCAST IN MOSCOW BRITISH GOODWILL MESSAGE. LONDON, June 27. Moscow radio broadcast a goodwill message from British members of Parliament.