NAZI CLAIMS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 September 1941, Page 5

NAZI CLAIMS

FIGHTING IN SUBURBS OF LENINGRAD HEAVY RAIN IMPEDING TRANSPORT. ASSAULT ON THE DNIEPER LINE. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, September 16. Officials in Berlin claimed that the battle for Leningrad is now raging in the suburbs about 15 miles from the centre of the city. The Russians, they say, are desperately contesting every inch of ground, and continuous heavy rain is making it difficult for the Germans to bring up their heavy equipment. The Germans declared that Leningrad is defended by lines of powerful concrete pillboxes, some of which are several stories deep. These lines are strengthened by tank-traps and also huge minefields, dense wire entanglements and rows of tree trunks deeply embedded in the roads. Y' They added that the Russians had entrenched themselves in a 75-mile defence zone between Leningrad and the Luga River, but the Germans broke through. Commentators in Berlin and Moscow are reticent regarding the fighting on the southern front, but the Germans claimed that their troops have deeply penetrated the'Nogayaskaya Steppes (between the southernmost reaches of the Dnieper River and the Crimea) after crossing the Dnieper at several points. They added that the Germans are developing a general offensive for the destruction of the Soviet defence system along the Dnieper. DRIVE ON KIEV. The “Daily Telegraph’s” Stockholm correspondent says since the capture of Chernigov three days ago General von Bock has made little progress southward toward a meeting with General von Rundstedt’s movement northward with the aim of encircling Kiev. General von Rundstedt is apparently now holding the front in the direction of Poltava while thrusting a strong flanking force toward Priluki (75 miles east of Kiev). The material gains from the capture of Kremenchug are likely to be small, because the Soviet forces had ample time to wreck the factories, while the rich farms round the town are almost certainly devastated. *' The “Pravda” says that the Germans in three days’ fighting lost 4000 killed and 15,000 wounded. Soviet artillery annihilated a German motorised battalion at point-blank range. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says that Marshal Budenny’s forces fighting doggedly, have prevented the Germans continuing their advance after the capture of Kremenchug, thus obstructing the development of a .pincers movement aimed at Kharkov. A Moscow communique states that an enemy force which tried to land on the Estonian island of Osel was wiped out. Four enemy transports were sunk off the coast and other transports and warships were seriously damaged. The Russians also sank an 8000-ton troopship which was advancing toward Petsamo in the Arctic. The communique states that a fierce German attempt to storm Odessa was beaten off with enormous losses to the enemy. There is no reference to Leningrad. GERMAN DESTROYERSSUNK. The Moscow “Izvestia” reported that two German destroyers were sunk in the first attempt to enter the approaches of Leningrad. A Helsinki message says Finnish correspondents report that Leningrad is in flames after the German bombings. They add that German bombers have also attacked the Kronstadt naval base, which Finnish artillery is shelling from the Karelian Isthmus. . German dispatches emphasise the extraordinary stubbornness with .which the Russians are clinging to the ring of very modern “bunkers.” It is now a week since the German High Command claimed to have reached. the Neva on a broad front and captured Schlusselburg, but the claim seems at least premature. The railway connection between Leningrad and Moscow apparently is still intact via Vologda, and Russian reinforcements reached the garrison after the Germans announced that it had been completely isolated. Nevertheless, while German stories of sure if slow progress in the Leningrad sector cannot be confirmed and the fierce resistance of the defenders of Leningrad, both military and civil, is still undiminished, it is clear that

.the great city is in a critical position. Moscow states that Galatz, Constanta, and Sulina, in Rumania, were bombed. The German people are being promised big victories. • The “Frankfurter Zeitung,” after referring to the difficulties of the campaign, said it could be declared with certitude that important decisions were now being prepared, and in weeks to come the German soldiers would be called on to give of their best. The “Red Star” says that gaps which have been made in the Luftwaffe are so important that greater activity on one front coincides with a lull on another. The German radio says that every horse of a Russian Caucasian cavalry division which was participating in a recent battle was equipped with a gas mask.