BLITZKRIEG BROKEN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 August 1941, Page 5

BLITZKRIEG BROKEN

ACCORDING TO “RED STAR” ASSURANCE OF ULTIMATE VICTORY. BUT WAR JUST BEGINNING. LONDON. August 5. “No matter what difficulties may be ahead, victory will be ours,” says the Soviet Army organ, “Red Star,” in summing up the first six weeks of fighting. “Failing to drive deep wedges into Soviet territory with their armoured formations, the German High Command began to disperse the mechanised forces along the whole tremendous front, turning them into support for attacks by the general troops, and thusthe Germans’ main force of infantry and artillery came into action with all the technique of modern warfare," it states. "The Nazi infantry, who had been accustomed to having an uninterrupted advance after the tanks had cleared the way, were now compelled to engage in violent fighting. Our infantry and tanks incessantly attacked the motorised columns, inflicting tremendous losses in manpower and equipment. Now Hitler, who relied on his almighty tanks, is already beginning to talk about rifles. "The conduct of a blitzkrieg does not require reserves, but the real war which the Nazis have encountered in eastern Europe constantly demands fresh forces. No matter what army the Germans have they are numerically unequal to the Red Army, which is beating back the invader but is still strategically on the defensive. "The Red Army troops, far from being complacent, clearly realise that the enemy forces are great and that the war is just beginning.” The Moscow correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” quotes a statement by the Soviet writer Count Alexei Tolstoi, who is in touch with Government circles, that the Red Army in a week of particularly heavy fighting smashed up five German divisions and also a column of 3GO tanks, which was destroyed to the last machine. CALL ON GUERRILLAS. Marshal Budenny, commander of the southern front, in a proclamation calls on the Russians in the territory occupied by the Germans to band together in guerrilla units and carry out fully Stalin’s scorched earth policy. “Those capable of bearing arms should join the partisan units and or-