ENTIRE POPULATION TAKING PART

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 September 1941, Page 5

ENTIRE POPULATION TAKING PART

German Pressure Cannot be Maintained SPEEDY DECISION IMPOSSIBLE SOVIET SPOKESMAN DESCRIBES POSITION LONDON, September 12. An unprecedentedly fierce battle on a large scale is raging round Leningrad, states M. Lozovsky, Soviet Information Bureau spokesman, describing the situation round the city. Germany’s immense forces, he states, are suffering- losses as never before. The Germans cannot keep up this pressure for long. They aimed at a speedy decision but this is impossible. “They will never set their bloody paws on our Leningrad,” he states. Not only the army and air force, he says, but the Baltic Sea Fleet and the entire population who are able are bearing' arms against the enemy. Men and women are defending' the city. German aircraft have been unable to bomb the city seriously and the German air force is not master of the air in this area. The German thrust southward from Gomel still threatened Kiev from the rear of the city’s defences and the Russian positions along’ the lower Dnieper. Between Leningrad and Kiev the Russians are reported to have launched a twin counteroffensive. If these are developed they will constitute a threat to the rear of the German forces attacking’ Leningrad. In the Smolensk sector, it is stated that the Russian attack is being sustained. Berlin now admits its renewal though they deny any success. In the far north the German thrust towards Murmansk appears to be developing but no details are known about the operations. In the extreme south Russian forces are reported to have forced a crossing of the Dnieper at four places. Reuter’s correspondent says a German crossing of the river north of Crimea is not believed to have been made in force. The concentration of Axis shipping in Bulgarian ports is continuing.