MADE BY NAZIS IN RUSSIA

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 July 1941, Page 5

MADE BY NAZIS IN RUSSIA

In Spite of Resounding Claims SOVIET DENIES LOSS OF SMOLENSK FORCES ACTIVE BEHIND ENEMY LINES LONDON, July 21. It is once more claimed by the official German news agency that a vast battle of annihilation is in progress on the Eastern front, east of the Stalin Line. There appears, however, to be little evidence to justify this claim. Although the Nazis reported the capture of Smolensk last Wednesday, they admit that fighting is still going on in its neighbourhood. A report from Russian sources states that Smolensk remains in Soviet hanus. On other sectors of the front the Russians say there is no change in the position. The Soviet Vice-Commissar of Foreign Affairs states that German forces are holding only certain front lines and that in hundreds of villages and cities in the German rear, Russian forces are still in control and are wrecking German communications and ambushing troops. He ridiculed the idea of a German blitzkreig and gave detailed evidence showing that the German losses have far exceeded expectations.