FEARS IN GERMANY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 July 1941, Page 5

FEARS IN GERMANY

OF ULTIMATE OUTCOME OF WAR NO VITAL CHANGE DURING WEEKEND. APPALLING LOSSES SUFFERED BY NAZIS. LONDON, July 21. There was no vital change in the Russian-German front in the weekend. German sources do not appear to be expecting immediate sensational developments, but they « are busily harping on the German High Command’s “long-range” policy requiring “extensive and complicated preparations,” though they declare that the Russians are retreating everywhere. The two latest Moscow communiques refer still to the same main sectors, where there is continued, heavy fighting. Comment from German and neutral sources tends to confirm the impression that the German advance has again been checked. Moscow mentions fighting in sectors 60 and 140 miles behind the farthest point claimed by the Germans. American commentators state that the failure of the High Command in the weekend to announce big successes has caused disappointment among the German people. It was the first weekend since the campaign began without claims or promises of spectacular victories. The Rome news agency quotes unconfirmed reports of a violent battle eastward of the Dniester River, where Germans and Rumanians are claimed to have reached the Stalin Line at last. “The Times” correspondent on the German frontier says that in spite of all their advances the Germans are not appreciably nearer their goal, while their appalling losses in men, mechanised units and materials and also their transport difficulties are increasing, raising serious misgivings in Germany about the worth of the ultimate outcome of the war. Hitler is known to have sent 25 of his 30 armoured divisions to the Eastern Front and at least seven have already been put out of action. BID FOR MOSCOW. The military correspondent of “The Times” says it is scarcely doubtful that the Germans have now entered Smolensk, and they are apparently staking all upon the capture of Moscow. The thrust through Pskov toward Leningrad has apparently hung fire since the Russian counter-offen-sive; however, this does not imply that the serious danger to Leningrad is lightened. The progress of the Finns on either side of Lake Ladoga also constitutes a sharp threat, and it may be accentuated by the German advance in northern Estonia, of which little has been heard lately. Swedish war correspondents say that the Finns “failed by a hair’s-1 breadth to cut off the Russian 54th Division in the region of Pielisjarvi. The Russians are resisting very strongly.” FINNISH OBJECTIVE. The Speaker of the Finnish Parliament declared that Finland’s only aim in warring against Russia was to liberate the Finns in eastern Karelia. “Finland has no fantastics dreams,” he said. The Russian midnight communique said: “Heavy fighting occurred all yesterday in the Pskov, Polotsk, Neval, Smolensk and Novograd-Volynsk sectors. There were no important changes in positions throughout the front. Guerrillas operated successfully behind the German front lines, inflicting heavy losses. The Russian air force, in spite of bad weather, again attacked tanks and motorised units and destroyed before noon 25 German planes. The air force sank a German torpedo-boat in the Baltic.” RAID ON MOSCOW DENIED. A Moscow message says that Moscow has not yet had an air raid. (Earlier reports from Stockholm said that the Germans heavily bombed Moscow on July 19. The reports stated that the Kremlin was laid in ruins

and that the Academy of Sciences and the cultural buildings were also destroyed.) Moscow says that a German munitions train is reported to have blown up at Presov, Slovakia, destroying 22 trucks and killing 41 soldiers and three German officers. The German news agency states that the crossing Of the Dniester, reported in a Berlin communique yesterday, was effected in the neighbourhood of Kamenets Podolsk. The Rome radio said that Kishinev, in Bessarabia, has been on fire for three days, and that efforts to quench the flames were unsuccessful. The Russians set fire to every house. A message from Bucharest says that the whole of Rumania is celebrating the recovery of Bessarabia and Bukovina. The streets of Bucharest are decorated with flags and portraits of King Michael and General Antonescu, Hitler and Mussolini. The Moscow radio reports that Fritz Mehnert, deputy chief of the Nazi Labour Front, has been killed in action.