Nazis Trying Desperately to Break Through

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 July 1941, Page 6

Nazis Trying Desperately to Break Through

DEFENDERS USING HUNDREDS OF TANKS FIERCE COUNTER-ATTACKS ALSO IN NORTH (By Telegraph.—Press Association—Copyright.) (Received This Dav, 12.5 p.m.) . LONDON. July 22.. A great battle has been raging in the Smolensk area since the weekend, with hundreds of Russian tanks violently counterattacking. The Russians apparently are also counter-attacking fiercely at Pskov, Forkhcv and in the south-west. The Germans at present are focussing all their picked forces in Smolensk, hoping to break through to Moscow and disrupt Stalin s regime. The Germans are noticeably concentrating on political waifare, producing stories of a breakdown of Russian militaiy authority and simultaneously attempting to discredit the regime. Stalin’s son, who was captured, is stated to have declared that he surrendered because he realised the hopelessness of the whole struggle against Germany. The Germans apparently hope that the capture of Moscow will produce a revolution before the German war machine is too gravely impaired. The Russians, however, have completed the mobilisation of a second great army in the neighbourhood of Moscow and more men are mobilising continuously. Neutral reports mention masses of Russian troops moving up to the front line. . . * u A German communique claims that the operations of the Germany Army, carried out in conjunction with its allies, have divided the Soviet defence front into unco-ordinated groups. A Finnish communique says the Finns have occupied and passed Pitkaranta, eight miles south-east of Kitela, taking numerous prisoners and considerable material.