FIERCE FIGHTING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 August 1941, Page 5

FIERCE FIGHTING

ALONG THE WHOLE FRONT SOME TOWNS EVACUATED IN UKRAINE. GERMAN SUBMARINE SUNK IN BALTIC. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON. August 15. A Russian communique reports fierce fighting yesterday along the whole front between the White Sea and the Black Sea. It says that the Russians have evacuated Kirovograd and Pervomaisk in the Ukraine. Russian warships sank a German submarine in the Baltic. Kirovograd is 100 miles east of Uman and its evacuation brings the enemy to 150 miles from the great industrial centre of Dnepropetrovsk (Ekaterinoslav). Pervomaisk is close to the River Bug, 50 miles south-east of Uman and 90 miles from Nikolayev. The German news agency also refers to a series of violent battles in - the northern sector., and it claims that a new "Dunkirk” is developing on the Black Sea coast. The persistent German claims of encirclement of Odessa are denied in Moscow. The Moscow "Pvavda" says that, ■■great and serious events" lie behind such recent Russian statements as "nothing of importance occurred.” The newspaper states that so far in the Russian campaign the German armies which have been totally destroyed include one tank corps, five tank divisions, four infantry divisions, one Black Guard division, and 12 regiments. in addition 21 divisions have lost over 50 per cent of their effectives. It appears that these figures refer only to sections of the front, and it is believed in Moscow that many other enemy divisions have been entirely or partly destroyed. ' According to the Germans’ own revised timetable, the capture of Leningrad, Moscow and Kiev is now a fortnight overdue. Berlin spokesmen ate still emphasising the difficulties of supply.