MAY RE ENDANGERED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 August 1941, Page 5

MAY RE ENDANGERED

MOSCOW-LENINGRAD RAILWAY POSITION IN GOMEL AREA OBSCURE. VITAL ISSUES AT STAKE. I British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day. 10.15 a.m.) RUGBY, August 27. With ths evacuation of Novgorod by the Russians, competent critics here are of opinion that the Leningrad-Moscow railway is now likely to be endangered. Although the Russians report further heavy is no later news of any important counter-attack against the Germans. In the Gomel area the battle is obviously continuing and news is anxiously awaited as it is felt that a great deal depends on the issue. If the German thrust is not held up, the Kiev salient, with the troops within it. are in grave danger of being cut off. and a threat is possible to Kharkov. If the Russian attack is successful, the German task in the south will be made much more difficult. Claims by the Germans, to have taken Dnepropetrovsk are not confirmed by the Russians and, even if substantiated, do not mean that the Germans have been able to cross the Dnieper, which is the vital defence line of Marshal Budenny’s army. The Russian midday communique does not give any further details, stating simply: “During last night Russian troops engaged in fighting along the whole front.”