SOUTHERN FRONT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 July 1941, Page 5

SOUTHERN FRONT

DANUBE DELTA INVADED BY RUSSIANS AXIS DEFEATS IN BESSARABIA REPORTED. BITTER FAMINE IN PROSPECT IN RUMANIA. LONDON, July 2. Reports from the Rumanian front are very scanty. The Istanbul correspondent of “The Times” says that the Russians have carried the fighting into the Danube Delta, where the Rumanians are hardpressed. Today’s .Moscow communique states that Rumanian and German attempts to penetrate into Bessarabian territory “are being unfailingly broken up.” A statement issued from Berlin claims that Rumanian troops have destroyed Russian tanks in operations at an important bridgehead on the Pruth.

The Istanbul correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph” says that the intensity of the spy and parachutist mania throughout Rumania is reflected in a decree that “those failing to denounce elements disturbing law and order will be shot with all their family.” It is believed that Rumanian police, under the supervision of the Gestapo, are torturing 1000 Jewish internees.

The Germans are assuming control of all businesses, particularly the export firms, and as a result Rumania is already semi-starved and is likely to suffer the bitterest famine in her history.