HEAVY DEFEAT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 September 1941, Page 5

HEAVY DEFEAT

. — J SUFFERED BY GERMANS IN THE BRYANSK AREA. ' MOSCOW GIVES DETAILS. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY. September 18. A Soviet communique states: “In the course of September 17 our troops continued stubborn fighting against the enemy along the whole front. “During September 15, 78 German planes were destroyed in aerial combat and on enemy aerodromes. Our losses were 25 aircraft.” A supplementary Soviet communique refers to the recent fierce fighting in S the Bryansk sector, south-east of Smolensk, and states that the German forces, commanded by General Guderian, lost 20,000 dead, wounded and taken prisoner. The Russians captured large numbers of tanks, armoured cars, aeroplanes and lorries. The communique says that General Guderian lost two-thirds of his tanks during these attacks, and it adds: “The German attacks on Bryansk were an absolute failure. All the German attacks were repulsed.” It further declared: “The German announcement on September 16 that in the Lake Ilmen area 53,000 Soviet troops were taken prisoner is absolutely untrue. The Germans are trying by such lies to draw the attention of the German people away from their own losses. “The Soviet losses were, in fact, 30,000 killed, wounded and taken prisoner. Furthermore, the Russians lost 42 guns, not 695 as claimed by the Germans. The German losses in this sector amounted to between 45,000 and 50,000.” RUSSIAN RESERVES UNIVERSAL MILITARY TRAINING. OUTSIDE WORKING HOURS. LONDON, September 18. The Moscow radio announced that in order to prepare trained reserves for the Red Army the State Defence Council has ordered all males between 16 and 65 to undergo compulsory military training outside their working hours.