NAZI HORDES TRYING DESPERATELY TO REACH LENINGRAD

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 September 1941, Page 5

NAZI HORDES TRYING DESPERATELY TO REACH LENINGRAD

Russians Claim Enemy Held Everywhere GERMANS MODERATING TONE DIRECT ATTACKS ON CITIES MAY BE CALLED OFF LONDON, September 5. * The titanic battle for Leningrad continues. Nazi Panzer hordes are trying desperately to smash their way through the outer defences. The German High Command asserts that Leningrad is a beleaguered city and is now under range of. heavy artillery fire. . . The Russians state that fighting continues all along the ■ front. A commentator claims that the Germans are being firmly held everywhere. At some points in the north the Germans have been driven back and several villages recaptured by Russian troops. Berlin spokesmen are showing the unusual tendency ot climbing down in their statements. One statement says that it is not yet certain whether Leningrad is being shelled yet, but an area 30 miles away is under fire. Though this statement is not confirmed it is an astonishing admission of the unreliability of German communiques. It indicates also that the Germans are still at least 30 miles away from the city. In the extreme south the Russians are still counter-attacking from Odessa and the Rumanian troops are reported to be suffering enormous losses. It is suggested in Berlin that the Germans may not now try to capture either city by direct assault. The Berlin spokesman stated that it was not clear how far the German army was prepared to make sacrifices to capture the cities. “Leningrad could be wiped out like Warsaw, but the city might be useful to us later on,” he added. “In Odessa our bombs and the Russian saboteurs have caused such widespread havoc that the city is not worth capturing and there would be nothing to carry away if it were taken.” M. Lozovsky said that the battle was extremely fierce during last night, with the defenders fighting for every inch of ground. A Soviet communique, after reporting continued fighting along the whole Russian front, states: “More than 100 enemy aircraft were brought down during a raid on a northern naval base.” M. Lozovsky stated that at Odessa the Rumanian army’s losses have been so heavy that the city’s defenders have had a respite. The Germans were compelling the Rumanians to do most of the fighting. Never in Rumania’s history had she lost so many men. The Germans attempted a night crossing of the Dnieper by a pontoon bridge, but they were caught in the lights of flares and failed with great loss.