UNCERTAIN NEWS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 July 1941, Page 5

UNCERTAIN NEWS

CONFLICT AT MANY POINTS ON DEEP DEFENSIVE FRONT. REPORTED REGROUPING OF RUSSIANS. (Bv Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) LONDON, July 2.

Berlin yesterday officially claimed that German forces have crossed the Dvina River in Latvia at various points, repulsed counter-attacks, and occupied Riga. An advance to the Beresina River was also announced.. This river runs from near the northern bolder of Poland to a point 45 miles east of Minsk and then south-east to Bobruisk, where Moscow, in an earlier communique yesterday, reported fierce fighting. . Moscow today reports that the Soviet troops on the Eastern front are retreating according to plan, and claims successful defence and counter-attacks along the front, including the Dvina. Minsk and Luck sectors. A French news agency message from Moscow says that the Russian armies are regrouping eastward of Minsk on the line of Vitebsk-Gorki-Kieve behind the Dnieper River. Though the ' Germans yesterday claimed the capture of certain Russian towns, it is evident that their hold on them is. frequently nominal. Fighting is apparently still going on for the pos-J session of Lwow (Lemberg). Last, night’s original Russian said that Lwow had been abandoned, but this was omitted from the later versions. The Tass agency explains that the latest news indicates that the battle for they city is still continuing. The Germans claim that the Soviet armies which have been encircled in the Bialystok area have been cut up into three sections, which are being progressively annihilated, but the Russians regard these troops as fighting in the rear of the German advanced forces and even the Germans admit stiff resistance far behind their most advanced units, with the zone of operations often extending to a depth of 200 miles.

One German correspondent declares that street fighting is still the order of the day in Brest-Litovsk, where the Germans are constantly subjected to sniping. The German principle of sending on tanks and armoured units almost regardless of infantry support or consolidation apparently justifies the German claims that they are pushing on toward Smolensk, though this drive is not mentioned in the latest Berlin statements. Another indication of the German methods is a German account of how three tanks, which were the first to enter Luck, maintained a fight for hours before support was moved in and the town occupied.

SWEDEN AND FINLAND

ATTITUDE OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.15 a.m.) RUGBY, July 2. The Foreign Secretary, Mr Anthony Eden, replying to various questions concerning the neutrality of Sweden and the diplomatic relations between the Swedish and British Governments, said the Swedish Government had informed his Majesty’s Government that, while reaffirming its intention to remain neutral, it was, at the request of the German and Finnish Governments, permitting one German division to pass from Norway through Sweden to Finland. Representations, Mr Eden said, •had been made by him to the Swedish Minister ! and also by his Majesty’s Minister at Stockholm. “I have at present no further statement to make on this subject,” Mr Eden added. Diplomatic relations with Sweden, he said, remained normal. Asked whether, in view of the Finnish Government’s declared intention to fight on the side of Germany against Russia, Finland was still regarded by his Majesty's Government as neutral and at peace with Britain, Mr Eden said Britain at present maintained diplomatic relations with Finland.