SWEEPING ATTACKS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 September 1941, Page 5

SWEEPING ATTACKS

RUSSIAN ADVANCE IN CENTRAL SECTOR INDICATIONS OF MAJOR OFFENSIVE. GIGANTIC TANK BATTLE. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) LONDON, September 11. Marshal Timoshenko's advance on the central front is developing into a major offensive attacking in the direction o£ Gomel. At one point the 29tn German infantry division has been routed. The ‘-Red Star” claims that the German offensive has been halted along the entire central front and that the Russians are continuing their sweeping attacks, including thrusts toward Smolensk. The Germans left thousands of dead. A gigantic tank battle, it states, is proceeding in one sector, distinct fiom Elnia, where Marshal Timoshenko pushed back the Germans beyond a river.” Four thousand Germans were drowned while retreating across the river. The correspondent of •'The Times on the German frontier says that the Russian victory in the Smolensk region is so momentous that, in view of the approach of winter, it almost justifies the hope of an eleventh-hour turning of the tide on the Eastern Front and at least assures Moscow's safety this year, while making improbable a successful German drive across the Dnieper. An Hungarian report mentions Russian counter-attacks in the Ukraine. The Stockholm correspondent of "The Times” says it is generally known that small Soviet craft in the Gulf of Finland, particularly submarines, possess an outlet through the canal to the White Sea, but it is less known that many of them could penetrate to the interior, even to Moscow and the Caspian Sea, by the Mariya canal system, linking the Neva and the Volga. This system has been greatly developed in the past few years to enable the passage of ocean steamers. The correspondent also points out that the Finns emphatically deny the German reports that their forces from the south have made contact with the Finns in the Karelian Isthmus. An official German spokesman admitted that Leningrad still retains an outlet to Lake Ladoga.

According to German dispatches, German sappers have already removed 10.000 mines from the town of Shlusselburg, but thousands more remain. -The Russians.” it is stated, “mined private houses and all buildings, and also concealed mines in stores, mattresses, and cupboards.”

Hide-and-seek activity continues vigorously on the Ukraine front, with every indication that Marshal Budenny, like Marshal Timoshenko, has a strong itch to be "up and at ’em.” German radio reports repeated that Soviet forces had attempted to land on the western bank of the Dnieper. The Moscow newspaper "Trud,” states that the first encounter between Italian and Russian planes on the Russian front has resulted in the Italians losing three out of 10 machines. One of the Italian pilots parachuted to safety,' and he said, "Germany is short of pianes, and for that reason Italian planes and pilots have been sent to the Eastern Front.”

Moscow radio today said that since the war began Russian aircraft production has been doubled.

STALIN CANAL CUTTING CLAIMED BY NAZIS. RUSSIAN BALTIC FLEET "BOTTLED UP.” (Received This Day, 8.55 a.m.) LONDON. September 11. A Berlin radio message claimed that Smolensk is still well behind the German lines. It also repeated the claim to have cut the Stalin Canal, bottling up the Russian Baltic Fleet, including one hundred submarines. The Russians are still using the naval base at Kronstadt. MURMANSK REGION GERMAN ATTACK REPORTED. POSSIBLY ON FAIRLY LARGE SCALE. (Received This Day, 8.55 a.m.) LONDON, September 11. From authoritative quarters there are indications that the Germans have begun an attack in the Murmansk region. It is believed that thp attack is being made from west of Murmansk, possibly on a fairly large scale.