GREAT SACRIFICE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 August 1941, Page 5

GREAT SACRIFICE

MADE IN THE UKRAINE DESTRUCTION OF DNIEPER DAM. EVIDENCE OF RUSSIAN RESOLUTION. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) LONDON, August 29. Moscow officially announced last night the blowing up of the Dneprostroy Dam and the evacuation of the steel centre, Dnepropetrovsk, about 50 miles to the north. The head ,of the Soviet Information Bureau, M. Lozovsky, stated that all measures have been taken to prevent the Germans from using the Dneprostroy Dam or its machinery. “We have done this,” he added, “to prevent this masterpiece of Soviet engineering from falling into the hands of the Fascist bandits. It ensures that while the invaders advance they will grow weaker.” He referred also to the denuding of the west Ukrainian agriculture and, said that the Germans will gain no benefit from the vzheat fields, which were destroyed. The collective farms were also destroyed with all their agricultural implements which could not be removed. WIDESPREAD FLOODS. Moscow says that the Germans in the Ukraine are now confronted with! hundreds of miles of flood waters. Berlin yesterday claimed that German troops have crossed the Dnieper and occupied Dneprostroy (near' Zaporozhe), the site of the £100,000,000 dam. The blowing up of the dam is described in London as probably the most spectacular act of war since the burning of Moscow in 1812. The “New York Times” comments: “It is now clear that the Russians .will stop at nothing to block the enemy’s path. Hitler must be beginning to wonder if the game in Russia is worth the candle.” Though Moscow does not minimise the seriousness of the losses in the Ukraine, it points out that Russia’s main arsenals are in the Urals in the

extreme east of European Russia. The “Red Star” says that the material elements of victory are there being forged. It would appear that the Germans are speeding up their blows on Leningrad. German sources speak of fighting only 30 miles from the city. The Russians, however, still speak of fighting at Kingisenn, 70 miles to the south-west. The Germans claim the capture of Tal.inn, the capital of Estonia. The East Prussian town of Konisberg was heavily raided last night by the Russian air force. HEAVY ENEMY LOSSES. The Russian news agency issued a description of the battle for a town in the Ukraine, to which it referred as “N,” presumably Dnepropetrovsk. This described the yielding of the Russian troops inch by inch. Some German tanks were blown up in the streets by mines and others destroyed by hand grenades. In this fighting the enemy losses were 5000 men, 40 tanks and armoured cars, 70 guns and 140 lorries. At Kiev another people’s army is helping in the fight against the invaders and has already inflicted casualties on the enemy. The hardships of the Germans in the Ukraine are described by a Swiss newspaper correspondent. He says that many German soldiers have lost their sight because of the dust. The fighting is also a real mix-up, the Germans often running into their own mines. The heavy casualties among German officers have been revealed by a Press message from Berlin to Switzerland. Berlin newspapers yesterday had notices of the deaths in action of three regimental commanders, six battalion commanders, 11 company commanders and one divisional headquarters commander.